Augmenting the Instrumental Music Program: a Case Study of Mark Wood’S Electrify Your Strings Program

AUGMENTING THE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PROGRAM: A CASE STUDY OF MARK WOOD’S ELECTRIFY YOUR STRINGS PROGRAM

A Thesis by

Jeremy Charles Samuel

Bachelor of Music, Fort Hays State University, 2004

Submitted to the Department of Music and the faculty of the Graduate School of Wichita State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music Education

May 2018

AUGMENTING THE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PROGRAM: A CASE STUDY OF MARK WOOD’S ELECTRIFY YOUR STRINGS PROGRAM

The following faculty members have examined the final copy of this thesis for form and content, and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Music Education, with a major in Instrumental Music.

______Steve Oare, Committee Chair

______Elaine Bernstorf, Committee Member

______Robert Bubp, Committee Member

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DEDICATION

This thesis is dedicated to my wife, Alison, and my daughter, Layla, whose love, understanding and support are unwavering in all my undertakings.

An experience-based philosophy of music education is inclusive of all musics and of all ways of being engaged with it because every particular kind and type of music, and every particular way music is made and received, represents a particular opportunity for musical experience. All such opportunities are precious. -Bennet Reimer

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank my adviser, Steve Oare, for guiding me through the thesis process to completion and for his masterful editorial skills. I would also like to thank Elaine Bernstorf for introducing me to research and convincing me that I had the skills to complete a thesis.

My wife, Alison and my daughter, Layla have my deepest gratitude. Thank you for your support and love despite the long hours this thesis kept me away. I am so fortunate to have you ladies in my life. Thank you also to Bill and Judy Pettijohn for pushing me to continue my education; I wouldn’t have done it otherwise. I am so fortunate to have you as parents.

To all the participants in this study, and especially Mark Wood and Laura Kaye. Thank you for allowing me the time in your busy schedules for interviews and follow-up questions.

Your insight into the Electrify Your Strings program made this thesis a reality.

Finally, I would like to thank all of the music mentors I have had throughout the years who have shaped the way I think about music: Brad Shores, my high school band teacher; Neal

Allsup, who gave me my first shot at playing jazz bass; Brad Dawson, who made sure I always found paid gigs; and especially Paul Ranieri, who has become not only my bass mentor, but also a good friend.

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research was to examine Mark Wood’s Electrify Your Strings (EYS) program. Three research questions guided this study: 1) What is the history of the EYS program and what was the driving philosophy behind its start? 2) What are the pedagogical benefits, if any, that EYS provides for a typical music ensemble? 3) What is the perception of EYS by current music educators, students, parents and school administrators?

This case study attempted to triangulate current research against participant interviews and their member checking, (Creswell and Poth, 2018). Participants were selected from current music educators, former high school students, parents of high school students, and school administrators who all had participated in an EYS event. Interviews were semi-structured in nature, transcribed, and double coded using a set of a priori codes that evolved between the first and second coding.

Perception of the program was positive, citing increased student confidence, increased camaraderie in the ensemble, increased program growth and retention, and increased support of the program as benefits of participation in EYS. Perceived hindrances were few, cost of the program and logistics of hosting a program, but insignificant against the perceived benefits.

EYS is not a new paradigm in music pedagogy. It doesn’t replace the long standing tradition of Western European classical music. It augments the successful pedagogy already being used in the classroom, incorporating classic rock and contemporary music, to encourage students to use creativity, innovation, movement, and self-expression to connect with music more deeply.

Keywords: Popular music, informal learning, Mark Wood, Electrify Your Strings

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page

1. INTRODUCTION 01

Mark Wood’s Electrify Your Strings 01 The Problem 01

2. LITERATURE REVIEW 02

Perception 03 Teacher Perception 03 Student Perception 06 Perception in the United States 08 Perception outside the United States 09 Incorporating Popular Music-Informal Learning 10 Incorporating Popular Music-Creativity 13 Incorporating Popular Music-Notation 14 Incorporating Popular Music-Issues 15 Incorporating Popular Music-Benefits 16 Conclusion 18

3. METHODOLOGY 19

Introduction to Methodology 19 Researcher Bias 19 Research Questions 19 Methodology and Design 20 Population Sample 20 Instrumentation 21 Data Analysis 22 Ethical Considerations 22 Consent 22 Procedure 23 First Coding 24 Second Coding 25

4. RESULTS 26

Introduction to Results 26 Tallied Results 26 History of Electrify Your Strings 28 The EYS Process 29 Perception of EYS-Hindrances 32

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TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued)

Chapter Page

Cost 32 Logistics 33 Perception of EYS-Benefits 34 Increased Support for the Orchestra Program 34 Increased Growth and Retention of the Orchestra Program 37 Increased Confidence Among Orchestra Students 38 Increased Camaraderie Among Orchestra Students 38 Personal Relationship with Wood and Kaye 39 Philosophy of Electrify Your Strings 39

5. DISCUSSION 41

Discussion 41 Research Question 1 42 Research Question 2 45 Research Question 3 47 Increased Confidence 47 Increased Growth and Retention of Orchestra Program 49 Increased Camaraderie 50 Increased Support 51 Personal Relationship 53 Summary 54 Recommendations for Future Research 55 Conclusion 56

BIBLIOGRAPHY 58

APPENDICES 62

A. Semi-Structured Interview Questions 63 B. A Priori Codes 77 C. Interview Transcripts 79 D. Consent Form 187

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EYS Electrify Your Strings

TLP The Lakewood Project

S.T.E.M. Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Mark Wood’s Electrify Your Strings

I first heard about Mark Wood and his Electrify Your Strings (EYS) program when I attended a strings workshop led by Julie Lyonn Lieberman. She described a wild electric violin shaped like a ‘flying-v’ guitar that Wood invented and the rock music he was playing with high school students all over the United States.

The Problem

My first observation of an EYS event was in 2008. The performance was the culmination of a community youth orchestra’s

EYS event which incorporated Mark Wood as well as The Mark Wood Experience. The Mark

Wood Experience consisted of electric guitar and bass, drums, keyboard, vocals and Mark Wood playing his Viper seven string electric violin. The music performed ranged from The Beatles to

Led Zeppelin and was presented in ‘rock concert’ fashion. In Humphreys’ (2004) paper on the history of popular music in schools he stated that the current public school music model has remained virtually unchanged since the late nineteenth century. Chapter 2: Literature Review discusses current incorporation of popular music in public school ensembles in the United States of America and other countries, examining hindrances to and potential benefits of full incorporation. This study set out to examine EYS as a means of incorporating popular music in the public school ensemble.

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

According to Mantie (2013), popular music research has experienced a growth recently, though little information exists related to Mark Wood’s Electrify Your Strings (EYS) program, and no material specifically addresses the EYS program directly. For a program that has been in existence since 2001 in public school music programs across the United States (Robbins, 2011), this is surprising and it suggests that research of the EYS program is needed.

Discussion of popular music has potential pitfalls, one of which is the language we use when discussing music other than that in the Western European classical tradition. Bowman

(2004) defines popular music as music created for the enjoyment and enrichment of everyday people in their everyday lives. Rodriguez (2004) goes further, stating that, “Popular music had become the vernacular music of the young, suggesting they are more fluent in it in terms of basic skills like describing, performing, creating and responding: than in other types of music,” (pg.

21). Vernacular music is ordinary everyday music such as pop and folk music and often defined in part in terms of accessibility and in stark contrast to Art music. Vernacular as a term does not carry the dichotomy that popular does; if one music is described as popular, then there is a music that is not popular, which can often be easily misconstrued as ‘un-popular.’ Western European classical music, as well a jazz, was once the popular music of its time, yet it is no longer referenced as vernacular music. For the purpose of this paper, the term popular music will refer to music that is commonly found on the “Top 40” charts of the last 60 years. The term school music will refer to music common in the public school system. These include jazz, Western

European classical music, and music specifically for the wind band.

In examining popular music, some common themes started to become clear. These themes involve the perception of popular music in school, the incorporation of popular music within the school music setting, and the over-arching rationale for the incorporation of popular music into school music settings.

Perception

There are four aspects of the perception of popular music in the classroom discussed in current research:

 How current music educators perceive popular music in the classroom.

 How students perceive popular music in the classroom.

 How the United States perceives popular music in the classroom.

 How other countries perceive popular music in the classroom.

Teacher Perception

“When we are passionate about something, as many in our profession are about traditional performance ensembles, it is easy to assume everyone else is similarly infatuated.

This is unfortunately not true” (Williams, 2011 pg. 53). Alternatively, exploring popular music does not necessarily represent a lack of emphasis on other music (Oare, 2008). The reality is that teacher perceptions are as varied as the genres of popular music. In her study of the use of popular music in Beijing, China, Ho (2014) found that 100% of the teacher participants in the study believed that music education should be compulsory. However, some teachers believed that popular music would harm their students, choosing not to teach popular music for fear that it

“polluted her students’ ears." (pg. 278). When these participants were asked whether the status of classical music would change with the introduction of popular music, some of the participants said that there would be some impact on learning about classical music (Ho, 2014). Barry spoke

3 to this possible impact on classical music when she discussed American music educators who grapple with the inclusion of popular music in an already crowded curriculum (Barry and Walls,

1999).

Many music educators are hostile to the idea of including popular music in the school classroom. These educators view it as inferior, crude, and unsophisticated (Boespflug, 2004).

These views haven’t changed much in the last five decades as evidence by comments made by

Charles B. Fowler in 1968 when he presented three reasons rock music shouldn’t be used. “1)

Rock is aesthetically inferior if it is music at all. 2) Rock music is damaging to youth, both physically and morally. 3) School time should not be expended on teaching what is easily acquired in the vernacular” (Humphreys, 2004). Some educators have an argument against using popular music because it “can be used as propaganda and is therefore dangerous or deficient,”

(Bowman, 2004 pg. 40). With over 94% of world record sales being popular music (Green,

2004) and with 70% of all popular music recordings being purchased by people between the ages of 12-20 (Campbell, et al, 2007), students are experiencing this dangerous propaganda regardless of whether or not it is in a school setting. It seems to be more educationally sound to encounter popular music in a school setting, studying it, and making students more fully aware of it and more competent to avoid indoctrination.

There are educators who use popular music willingly in their classrooms as a tool rather than as a legitimate music form (Mantie, 2013). Many educators use popular music to get students into a chair so they can “spoon a little real music into their ears,” (Bayles, 2004 pg. 86), or to pander to the students’ current musical tastes in order to lead them to music that is more worthwhile (Green, 2006, Barry and Walls, 1999). This bait and switch method of including popular music can downgrade the value of popular music (Allsup, 2011) and creates tension in

4 the minds of the students who view popular music as an important part of their musical lives

(Boespflug, 2004). Other educators use popular music willingly and legitimately, but still view it as inferior, harmonically and structurally not as complex (Boespflug, 1999). They want to incorporate rock music, but view the traditional approach to school ensembles as being a hindrance to effective incorporation (Boespflug, 1999).

Teachers who believe popular music could be a valuable component of classroom music and legitimately want to incorporate it fall into two groups: those who are passionate about the issue and are willing to jump right in, and those who want to jump right in, but don’t know how.

Some of these music educators point to their education and musical backgrounds as hindrances to being able to teach popular music (Ho, 2014). Some educators believe that in order for popular music to be taught as part of the music education curriculum, it needs to be taught by those who know it intimately (Boespflug, 2004). Even classically trained music teachers who are willing to teach popular music bring hesitation because so few of them had hands-on experience (Allsup, 2011). Boespflug (2004) goes on to say that not only is music educators’ limited knowledge an obstacle, but also that as students, these educators learned that creating music involved a composer and notation, whereas, popular music is typically the product of an improvisatory collaborative process. When it comes to undergraduate music education curriculum in the United States, popular music is insignificant in both presence and status in the preservice music teacher education process (Mantie, 2013). Little institutional support exists for musical activity that will be financially viable for only a few (Bowman, 2004), and there are few significant programs or texts to inform current teachers who have a desire to learn on their own

(Mantie, 2013). Humphreys (2004) hits this issue home: “Today, even if conditions in the

5 schools were ripe for inclusion of popular music, the vast majority of music teachers are inadequately trained for the task” (pg. 100).

There is a growing number of teachers who are teaching popular music in the classroom and starting extra-curricular popular music ensembles. Allsup (2011) claims that value is found in the experience and that the most important outcome of music education should be ensuring students experience all types of music in a positive way. He also stated that popular music gives students a chance and the space to break out of pre-defined roles given to them and to do more than just reproduce notes on a page (Allsup, 2003). Boespflug (2008) spoke of his confidence that popular music would thrive in secondary education, especially at the junior high level where young people are developing a passion for music.

Student Perception

Campbell (2007) examined essays written by 1,155 middle and high school students in response to the prompt “Ban the elimination of music education in schools.” Students responses claimed that popular music was a ‘missing piece’ of their school music program (pg. 228).

Campbell described students who long for music study that is relevant to their needs, interests, hopes and desires. One young girl in Campbell’s study discussed a concern with playing

“classical instruments such as clarinet or trumpet,” because she feared being labeled as a ‘band geek’ and went on to predict that more students would be willing to learn music if more rock band instruments were available to them (pg. 228).

Barry (1999), researching reactions to aural examples, provided 323 pre-service music teachers with aural samples from various genres of music followed with a questionnaire. After analyzing the data, Barry postulated that older students believed that jazz is an appropriate and

6 more acceptable bridge to popular music. Perhaps students develop this view because jazz music is and has been accepted into the music curriculum for some time.

In Green’s (2006) examination of then current research a stark contrast to this view emerged, which was held by some school-aged students in the United Kingdom who claimed that popular music, when used in school, became just like music from the Western European classical tradition.

Students in the United Kingdom didn’t all hold to this view of popular music. Of students who were involved in a class that used rock music, 67% reported enjoying their music lessons (Hargreaves and Marshall, 2003). Green (2004) interviewed rock musicians in the U.K. in a range of ages and experience. A question about how they felt about music other than rock music revealed an enthusiasm about other music, including classical music. Koop’s case study of alumni from The Lakewood Project (TLP) found the same results. According to one high school student in Ohio: “Growing up I was more into ‘pop’ music and I thought classical music was solely for an orchestra to play and that it was dying. But…music is just more than notes on the page, it’s how you interpret them. Performing and making music with friends showed me that classical music isn’t dying, it just needs to be renewed to modern day” (Koops, et al 2014 pg. 156). Ho (2014) found that students in China also support learning popular music, but do not want it to replace classical music in the curriculum.

An important aspect of popular music that is integral to defining current popular music is its association with the youth culture. Campbell (2007) compared this with the notion that music is a universal language, arguing that popular music as a presence in young peoples’ lives is common to all cultures. The same popular music that some educators proclaim as crude have for the youth culture aesthetic and social values that are unattainable with school music. Williams

(2011) took this further by stating that school music offers little relevance to youth culture. Even the instruments used in school music, which at one time were popular in society, hold little relevance for the youth. Beginning in the 1970’s, the demand for these school instruments began to decline, especially in the youth culture (Williams, 2011). Discussion of youth culture is important when making music decisions in the curriculum. Musical alienation can occur with our youth when they feel they have no ownership of the music or familiarity with the music. If we do not provide relevance, or opportunities for them to encounter music that they find relevant, we run the risk of alienating our students musically and turning students away from school music altogether (Bowman, 2004; Green, 2006).

Musical alienation is connected with identity. It is during a person’s youth that they actively begin to construct their identity separate from their family unit, and their musical identity is a large component of this identity. Most of the shaping of musical identity of contemporary youths comes in the form of popular music rather than jazz or Western European classical music (Hargreaves and Marshall, 2003).

Perception in the United States

Mantie (2013) analyzed articles about popular music authored from all over the world.

He was able to make some general observations from his research. One observation was that authors in the United States tended to use popular music only for its utility or as a function.

Another observation was that popular music was approached in the same manner as Western

European classical music. Music analysis (Dunbar-Hall, 1999), notation, and rehearsal practices remained the same for popular music as it always has been for Western European classical music. This approach to popular music denies the improvisational and collaborative nature of popular music, eliminating the musician’s role as arranger/composer and performer (Boespflug,

1999). Mantie (2013) also found that American authors repeatedly tried to rationalize, or justify the use of popular music in the classroom.

Perception outside the United States

Popular music seems to be commonplace in the school music curriculum in several countries outside of the United States (Mantie, 2013). Australia, Finland, Denmark, England,

Scotland and Sweden mandate popular music in their curriculum, built on a music that originated in the United States (Humphreys, 2004). Articles originating from these countries discuss how to best teach and learn popular music without an attempt to rationalize the use of popular music because it has already been decided and accepted that popular music it part of the curriculum

(Mantie, 2013). Finland and Sweden have prepared music educators with popular music experience and training for generations (Allsup, 2011). The Sibelius Academy in Finland requires a two-semester music education course where the students study arranging and composing in the rock style. At the University of Oulu, students study acoustic and electric guitar for two years and play in popular music combos for three years (Humphreys, 2004).

Higher education in Australia goes one-step further, offering a Bachelor of Popular Music degree

(Lebler, 2008).

Scotland has fully embraced popular music as well. Originally just adopting popular music and popular music practices at the public school level, Scotland is now embracing it at the university level. “The inclusion of a wider range of acceptable instruments for examination purposes has resulted in rock music being accepted as a valid form of music in the curriculum,”

(Byrne and Sheridan, 2000 pg. 46). The success of incorporating popular music into the classroom resulted in a new degree path created for students at the university. Most of the

Scottish teachers described their musical strengths as being within the Western European

9 tradition, a few cited jazz, one cited folk music, and a few identified with rock and other popular music.

China seems to be the country to most closely mirror the United States relating to popular music education. Students in China listen primarily to popular music, a large portion of which has origins in the United States, but very few interact with this type of music in school. There are Chinese educators who have a desire and willingness to teach these styles, but feel they are hindered by national education policy, or their own lack of understanding. There also are

Chinese educators who do not support teaching popular music. One educator in the study said she would only be willing to teach popular music if they were Chinese “Red” Songs, which are patriotic songs used as propaganda (Ho, 2014). Students in these Chinese schools expressed a desire to play popular music in school, but did not want popular music to supplant music of the

Western European classical tradition.

Incorporating Popular Music-Informal Learning

Incorporating popular music into the classroom in a legitimate manner rather than just as a bait-and-switch tactic requires a different pedagogical approach. The same approach to the

Western European classical tradition will not facilitate the learning of skills required for popular music (Hall, 2015; Williams, 2011).

According to Green (2002), popular music musicians learn through different processes than musicians of the Western European tradition. Perhaps this is what developed the popular music mythos that popular musicians just pick up an instrument and start playing; it was fate, they were just meant to play, just natural players. Creech (2008) surveyed 244 classical and non- classical musicians and her research suggests that this is a myth. While classical musicians tended to engage music at an earlier age, both groups valued practice as an important part of

10 being a musician. Classical musicians followed a common master/apprentice model in their study, while the non-classical musicians studied on their own and learned from their peers and mentors. Looking at the different learning paths it is not surprising that classical musicians do not put much value on improvisation and that the non-classical musicians put little value on the ability to sight-read (Creech, et al, 2008).

Popular musicians learn through an informal learning process. Green, having authored dozens of articles and several books on how popular musicians learn and informal learning practices, has found that informal learners choose what music to play, learn the music aurally without notation, and group themselves with other learners. What appears to be chaos in the learning groups is actually learning through listening, both to recordings and to each other, and through improvisation, composing, and collaboration (Koops, et al, 2014). Enculturation, or immersion in the music and musical practices of one’s environment, is a fundamental part of informal learning (Green, 2004). Listening to recordings is generally frowned upon in the traditional classroom for fear that it will steal a student’s expression, or worse, that listening before reading the notation is a form of cheating! However, most informal learning groups will not use standard notation, so listening to the recordings beforehand is crucial to the learning process.

The teacher’s role changes in informal learning. No longer will the teacher be the authoritarian, making all the decisions, nor will the teacher be the person with the greatest musical knowledge in the room (Lebler, 2008; Hargreaves and Marshall, 2003; Williams, 2011).

The teacher instead becomes a facilitator, and a source of guidance when the students seek it, and a peer (Boespflug, 2004). This shift in teacher role is crucial for good informal practices. A teacher who acknowledges that some of the students will have more knowledge about popular

11 music than he or she does and are willing to ask the students questions will have better informal learning groups (Green, 2008). In these self-formed groups, students learn from other students, or what Green called Peer-Directed Learning. This activity is common in popular music, where knowledge gained by one student is shared with other students in the group (Lebler, 2008).

Students said they preferred being taught by their peers. Green (2008) credited peers with being better at getting “inside each-others’ ‘zones of proximal development,’” than teachers (pg. 184).

Green interviewed nearly 200 middle school students across seven schools over the course of two years. She found that a staggering 95% of the students reported a preference for the informal learning methods over the normal curriculum, specifically the self-selected, self-guided groups.

Elizabeth Hankins, a high school teacher in Ohio and a finalist for the 2017 Grammy

Music educator of the year award, founded The Lakewood Project (TLP) in 2002 around informal learning practices (Koops, et al, 2014). This extra-curricular ensemble rehearses once a week outside of school for four hours at a time, with an additional 90-minute sectional sometime during the week. TLP combines traditional school orchestra instruments with electric guitar and bass, keyboards, drums and vocals. In TLP, 21% of the alumni over the first ten years of the program, perform professionally as adults. 50% of the alumni perform non-professionally, and only 13% no longer participate in music making (Koops, et al, 2014). Alumni of TLP recognize how involved they were in all aspects of TLP, and this high level of responsibility through informal learning practices developed a sense of ownership of the ensemble and performance

(Koops, et al, 2014). “The nature of a mentoring learning environment enables the forming of strong, rich relationships through shared experience and creative collaboration, as well as

12 opportunities for shared experience between staff and student outside of the classroom setting”

(Hall, 2015 pg. 110)

In Lebler’s (2008) case study of pop music education at Queensland Conservatorium, one student spoke about interacting with fellow students and staff, and how it inspired him to keep improving his abilities as a musician. Popular music learners assess themselves in relation to their peers, the artists who inspire them, and their past performances.

Incorporating Popular Music-Creativity

Informal learning groups, when observed from the outside, can appear to be chaotic, aimless endeavors. You might see one student plinking on the piano, two others listening to a recording, and a fourth trying out different drum beats. This is in reality a discovery period as these music students experiment with different ideas of how to arrange or compose their song

(Green, 2008). These students are learning to communicate in their musical language and developing an ability to express themselves (Robbins, 2011). The integration of creativity and expression is a fundamental part of popular music (Hall, 2015) and an area that educators need to approach with the knowledge and acceptance that students may have more skill (Boespflug,

2004). Mark Wood puts a heavy emphasis on creativity and self-expression during his EYS workshops. He stated that,

‘I could play Stravinsky, Beethoven, Bartok with my hands tied behind my

back, blindfolded, but when you took the music away, I couldn’t,’ Wood

recalls. So he looked to rock and jazz musicians like Frank Zappa and Miles

Davis, as models. ‘I was hearing this innovation that had less technique, less

training, but they were achieving the most important part of music making;

innovation, connection’ (Robbins, 2011 pg. 55).

Incorporating Popular Music-Notation

It is interesting that the music Wood describes has a dichotomy beyond the musical genre. The music Wood first learned, music of the Western European classical tradition, also is music learned from formal notation. The music that Wood looked to was music that used little, if any, notation in the composition or transmission.

Music education graduates entering the teaching profession today, with few exceptions, followed the path of playing music at the secondary school level in an ensemble, studying with a master of their chosen instrument, and then going on to college to study with more masters and perform in more ensembles. These ensembles require notation out of necessity because their size negates the feasible use of aural learning (Williams, 2011). In these ensembles, all the information to reproduce the music is present in the notation, including stylistic nuance that has been reinforced in master/apprentice study (Boespflug, 1999). This learning model produces music educators who look for notated popular music (Boespflug, 1999) because they have not developed the by-ear musicianship that is needed to properly reproduce popular music with its rhythmic and vocal nuance (Boespflug, 2004). Use of formal notation in informal learning groups tends to be a hindrance. In Allsup’s (2003) study, he observed that once a group formally notated their arrangement or composition, it became fixed, hindering the piece’s evolution as well as the development of the group.

Popular musicians do incorporate notation into their learning and creative processes, however very little of it would resemble the formal notation most music educators find familiar.

Some use a skeletal notation system, called a lead sheet, in which the form of the piece is mapped out, sometimes with chords and sometimes just with numbers (Dunbar-Hall and

Wemyss, 2000). Students using a lead sheet will use a different set of musical skills, going from

14 a passive to an active reader of the notation, making their own musical decisions rather than just copying the music choices of another. TLP members use lead sheets when first learning a piece

(Koops, et al, 2014), and the Chelsea House Orchestra (CHO) in Michigan uses formal notation to assist in the memorization of the pieces they perform (Oare, 2008).

Incorporating Popular Music-Issues

Authenticity in the production of popular music seemed to be an over-arching concern for educators in regards to incorporating popular music in the classroom (Oare, 2008). Green (2006) believes the problem of authenticity is a construct of educators putting too much emphasis on the product, and forgetting the process. Omitting the authentic learning processes of popular musicians from our teaching strategies leaves “a ghost of popular music in the classroom, and not the thing itself” (pg. 107). CHO, an Irish music house band, strives for authenticity whenever feasible, but does change things such as instrumentation and style because of the school context, skill of the student, and lack of authentic instruments (Oare, 2008).

Lack of training or experience in popular music learning processes remains a key issue in incorporating popular music in the classroom. This lack of training leads to educators teaching popular music in the same way they would music of the Western European classical tradition

(Lebler, 2008). These educators carry with them a misconception that the two forms of music are unrelated, existing far apart from each other (Allsup, 2011), and therefore reinforce the division between popular music and Western European classical music (Barry and Walls, 1999).

Boespflug (2004) claimed that music educators have a desire to influence our culture, but we ignore contemporary culture, Humphreys (2004) also claimed that music educators want to fix the nations music taste, providing something more educationally sound, and Williams (2001) convicted educators, in their reluctance to change teaching practices, with robbing “countless

15 numbers of students of a potentially rich music education,” (pg. 57). Students who are drawn to popular music and its instruments are just as interested, dedicated and productive as students who play in traditional ensembles, and more so than some. These students deserve teachers who are just as dedicated (Williams, 2011).

Popular music in the classroom is further hindered, at least in the United States, because it is not truly recognized by institutions that regulate music education practices (Mantie, 2013).

A traditional ensemble has a regulatory body at the district, state and national level who sets standards of instruction and standards for performance. This leaves many educators who attempt to incorporate popular music in authentic and legitimate ways with the question of “I started using it, now what?”

There is a consistency with school music, an agreed upon style of performing, which has been established for many years. The pace at which popular music evolves and changes can be a source of discomfort for educators, not to mention the sheer number of songs already in the popular music genre, let alone the new music that constantly is being churned out (Bowman,

2004). This can become overwhelming and a hindrance to the use of popular music in the classroom.

Incorporating Popular Music-Benefits

The current model for public school ensembles, according to Williams (2011), is successful and envied by teachers in other countries. Of course, success can be defined in many different ways. According to Florida Department of Education data, 16.45% of high school students enrolled in music class in 1985, 14.9% in 1995, and 11.67% in 2005, (Florida

Department of Education). For many of those students who currently are participating in school music, a lack of relevance between music and their lives will lead them to cease their

16 involvement (Campbell, et al, 2007; Williams, 2011) and for those who do stay, there will only be lasting benefits for a minority (Green, 2004). In one study, 45% of students who are not currently learning an instrument desire to learn an instrument (Hargreaves and Marshall, 2003).

These declining numbers are not going to be fixed solely by incorporating popular music, but it is an area that needs further research.

The inclusion of popular music learning methods fosters not only music skills that might not be attained in the traditional model, but also universal life skills (Bowman, 2004). TLP alumni point to increased communication and collaboration skills that grew out of frustrations with peers that developed through giving and receiving criticism, different musical backgrounds, or disagreements about style, music or direction. These skills helped them attain employment, excel in college, and develop better relationships. Many of the alumni spoke to how valuable it was to learn how to resolve conflict while in high school (Koops, et al, 2014). Another participant highlighted the development of critical thinking and creative skills in their informal learning groups, and how these were skills other students in the high school lacked (Bowman,

2004; Koops, et al, 2014). The informal learning groups also opened up opportunities for students to take leadership roles, or learn that they were not suited for leadership. All of these skills: the ability to think critically, collaborate with others, resolve conflicts, offer and receive criticism, and know when to lead and when to follow, are skills sought after by almost all professions (Koops, et al, 2014). With the resurgence of S.T.E.M. emphasis in schools and its hands-on discovery approach to learning, it would seem logical to provide this same approach to music learning. Informal learning practices involved in learning popular music provides students with a similar hands-on discovery approach.

Conclusion

Rodriguez (2004) states, “Rather than hesitate because we cannot relate to or do not know enough about the music of our students, we might remember that our students too frequently possess similar attitudes about the music we choose instead” (pg. 15). Popular music has a long way to go before it is universally accepted as a necessity in the American public school music classroom, and even further before legitimate popular music learning practices such as informal learning become common place. Current research about popular music is scant, and what research there is, is aging quickly. Currently, there are string rock ensembles in some fashion, many with orchestral players, in Portland, Little Rock, Dallas, Wichita and Upstate New

York; but only The Lakewood Project in Ohio and the Chelsea House Orchestra have been researched in a scholarly way.

The Electrify Your Strings (EYS) program has been crisscrossing the United States for over 15 years. In that time period EYS has expanded to include choir and band students, adding other Artist/Mentors to the line-up of workshop clinicians. EYS Founder, Mark Wood has interacted with thousands of students, giving them an avenue to experience rock music and express themselves creatively on their school music instruments. The discussion regarding popular music in school classrooms is not going away. How does the EYS approach compare with current research? What is the perception of the EYS program held by teachers, students, parents and administrators? What is Wood’s philosophy about music education, and about rock music versus music of the Western European classical tradition? What pedagogical views does

EYS support and teach? These are all questions that point to the need for research and evaluation of the EYS program.

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

Introduction to Methodology

The amount of scholarly research pertaining to popular music in the public school music setting is increasing; however, there is not a wealth a research. None of that scholarly research pertains specifically to Mark Wood’s Electrify Your Strings (EYS) program. What has been written about the EYS program comes mainly from trade magazines, some newspaper articles, and TV news spots. These sources describe the exterior of an EYS program rather than seeking to answer academic questions related to pedagogy, philosophy and perception.

Researcher Bias

As a participant observer in this case study, I have had my own students participate in four different EYS programs over the last decade. I also have participated in Wood’s rock orchestra camp, The MWROC Music Festival, since its beginning in 2010. This gives me insight and access into the EYS program not afforded to other researchers, having experienced all aspects of the program.

Research Questions

The purpose of this case study is to examine the EYS program and its relation with the typical music model in today’s public schools. With so many different aspects of the program yet to be researched, it could easily become a cumbersome and unmanageable endeavor without narrowing the research lens. Three research questions for this study include:

Research Question 1: How did the EYS program begin and develop and what was the driving philosophy behind its start?

Research Question 2: What are the pedagogical benefits, if any, that EYS provides a typical public music ensemble?

Research Question 3: How is the EYS program perceived by current music educators, students, parents and school administrators?

Methodology and Design

The methodology and design used for this study will follow what Stake (1995) describes as an intrinsic case study, one in which there is “a sharp focus of attention” on one particular case (pg. 5). Data for this study was generated through interviews of Mark Wood and Laura

Kaye, the creators and visionaries behind the EYS program, current public school educators who have participated in an EYS event, former public school students who have participated in an

EYS event, school administrators of schools that hosted an EYS event, and parents of students who participated in an EYS event. Triangulation was achieved by comparing data among participants within each group, member checking as described by Stake (2010), and by examining data from participants against current research regarding the incorporation of popular music into the public school music ensemble, (Creswell and Poth, 2018).

Population Sample

With my involvement with EYS and the MWROC Music Festival, Wood’s summer music camp built on the foundation of EYS, I have ready access to a population of participants.

Each year Mid-American Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas plays host to the MWROC

Music Festival (formerly the Mark Wood Rock Orchestra Camp). This event, led by Mark

Wood and Laura Kaye draws approximately 100 students, parents and educators from around the country. Participants for my study were selected from this convenience group.

Teacher 1 and 2 both teach high school orchestra in the Southwest region of the United

States, but were both middle school teachers for the first EYS they each did. Teacher 3 teaches high school orchestra in the Southeast region of the United States. Each educator interviewed was asked to recommend an administrator who might be interested in participating in the study.

Several administrators expressed interest in participating, but did not follow through, or were unable to because they were not actually administrators at the time of the EYS event. The two administrator participants were both from my own school in the Midwest region of the United

States. The same issue was experienced with student participants. Initially, there was more student participants than needed, but many did not follow through, or were unable to because of their age. Student 1 was a high school student at the time of the EYS event and was from the northeast section of the Midwest region of the United States. Student 2 and 3 were both former students that had participated in EYS as middle and high school students from the Midwest region of the United States. Parent 1 was from the Southwest region of the United States. This parent’s child participated in two EYS events as a high school student. Parent 2 was from the

Southeast region of the United States at the time of the EYS event. Both children of Parent 2 participated in two EYS events and were home-schooled at the time of their participation. Wood and Kaye are the creators and visionaries of the EYS program and both grew up and currently reside in the New York area.

Instrumentation

All in-person interviews were audio recorded using an Olympus WS-852 digital voice recorder and then transcribed verbatim. All other interviews were conducted via Skype, and were recorded with the Olympus WS-852 digital voice recorder. These interviews then were transcribed verbatim.

Data Analysis

Once all interviews were conducted, they were put through a process of double coding

(Krefting, 1991) in which four weeks passed between the first coding and the second. The first coding used a set of a priori codes, listed in Appendix B. Any emergent themes then were incorporated for use during the second coding.

Ethical Considerations

This study investigates a program that some individuals may view as a threat to the established traditions already being used in the public music education system. All participant names and locations of employment were removed to minimize any potential social and employment risk involved with participation in the study. The exception to this was Mark Wood and Laura Kaye, as their names are an integral part of the EYS program.

Consent

Due to the nature of the study the Institutional Review Board determined that written consent was not required. I contacted potential participants through e-mail, sending them an invitation to participate describing the study and their potential participation. Respondents to the invitation scheduled an interview and were e-mailed the verbal consent document (Appendix D) and the interview questions, listed in Appendix A.

At the beginning of each interview, I reviewed their participation in the study, explained that the interviews would be recorded and later transcribed, and that they could stop participation at any time. I then asked if they had any questions about the consent form, answered any questions, and obtained verbal consent from all the participants.

Procedure

A total of twelve interviews were conducted over a one-month period. Mark Wood and

Laura Kaye, creators and visionaries of the EYS program, represented two of the twelve interviews. Of the ten remaining interviews, three were music educators who had participated in an EYS program, three were students who had participated in an EYS program during their time in high school, two were parents of students who participated in an EYS program during their time in high school, and two were administrators whose schools had hosted an EYS program.

Interviews were semi-structured in nature with each sub-group answering the same set of questions (Appendix A) with follow-up questions utilized as needed. Each individual was interviewed one time for no more than an hour. These interviews were recorded and transcribed

(Appendix C). After transcription, participants were e-mailed the transcript of their interview and asked to read through it and check for any portions that may have been misrepresented, and any portions that they would like to clarify or elaborate on. According to Stake (2010), this member checking process is vital to this type of research because it helps to reduce errors and may develop new meanings.

During interviews I took handwritten notes on a pad of paper. Through the use of these notes a pattern of words and ideas began to form. For example, several participants mentioned increased camaraderie and increased confidence in the orchestra after their participation in an

EYS event. During the transcription of the audio recordings I noticed additional patterns of words and ideas. Several participants spoke about increased support of their programs as well as growth in the orchestra.

First Coding

Upon completing the transcription of the final interview I began my first coding. Using the a priori codes in Appendix B, I went through all twelve interviews, making special notation of the possible emerging themes I had discovered during the interview and transcription process.

At the end of the first coding I had 385 codes, with the majority being the perceived benefits of doing an EYS event, and the least being in the categories of music background, pop music experience, and comfort level of playing and teaching popular music.

One curiosity that did emerge from the question of “other than listening, what is your experience with popular music?” was the absence of any EYS participant citing their EYS participation as popular music experience. This is significant because all of the teachers, parents, and most of the students interviewed had, by their own admission in the interview, participated in more than one EYS. Was this omission a product of a poorly worded question, or does it follow what Green (2006) said about popular music becoming just like Western European classical music when used in the classroom?

Perceived benefits of doing and EYS was too broad of a code. It was broken up into increased confidence, increased camaraderie, increased growth/retention, increased support and relationship. Relationship between participants and Wood and Kaye before, during and after the

EYS event was discussed by many of the participants and Wood as being an important part of their EYS experience. Perceived hindrances was broken between real world obligations, cost, logistics and other teachers. In the first coding I coded all the statements by participants pertaining to philosophy. After reviewing them it became apparent that most were the participants own philosophies and didn’t speak specifically to EYS and an adjustment was made for the second coding.

Second Coding

After the first coding the transcripts were set aside for a period of four weeks. At the end of the four-week period a second coding was completed with the adjusted a priori codes. There were 312 codes for all twelve interviews combined. When looking specifically for increased confidence as its own code, it became apparent that it was important in some of the interviews because of the number of occurrences. The same pattern held true for camaraderie as well as relationship. The more rigorous coding of philosophy also yielded interesting results. Only

Wood and Kaye spoke to the philosophy of EYS.

Using the second coding, a table was compiled. For each participant each code was tallied. Code included: increased confidence, increased camaraderie, increased growth/retention, increased support (community/administration/parental), relationship, cost hindrance and logistics hindrance. An additional table was compiled for Wood and Kaye which included EYS pedagogy and EYS philosophy codes. A full explanation of results follows in

Chapter 4: Results.

CHAPTER 4

RESULTS

Introduction to Results

As stated in Chapter 3: Methodology, a table was created to further examine the pattern of emergent and sub-themes during the second coding. There were four primary emergent themes: The history of Electrify Your Strings (EYS) and the EYS process, the philosophy of

EYS, the pedagogical benefits of EYS, and the perception of EYS.

The philosophy of EYS had four sub-themes: EYS is a bridge between classical music and rock and contemporary music, EYS encourages creativity and innovation, utilization of movement is important, and growth both in and out of music. The perception of EYS had two sub-themes: hindrances and benefits.

Hindrances had two tertiary themes: cost of hosting an EYS event, and logistics of hosting an EYS event. Benefits had five tertiary themes: increased growth and retention in the ensemble, increased confidence among student participants, increased camaraderie among students in the ensemble, increased support for the music program, and relationship development between participants and Wood and Kaye.

Tallied Results

Using the table, several patterns became noticeable. Of all the perceived hindrances of doing an EYS event, only two of them had more than one coding; cost of the event, and logistics associated with running the event. When examined across all twelve interviews, only six different participants discussed either of these hindrances. None of the participants discussed cost more than once in their interview, and only three of the participants mentioned logistics more than once.

Examining the perceived benefits of doing an EYS event revealed interesting and unexpected data sets. Increased support, which included support from administration, community, and parents, was mentioned by all participants except one of the student interviews.

Two of the teachers and one administrator each discussed it four times.

Ten of the twelve participants spoke about the importance of the relationship that was established with Wood and Kaye during the EYS event. All of the parents and teachers interviewed spoke about the relationship developed with Wood and Kaye. Wood and Kaye also spoke about developing relationships with participants of EYS as being an important aspect of the program.

Increased camaraderie and increased confidence were close in their number of codes by different participants. Camaraderie was a perceived benefit for seven different participants, but only mentioned by each of those participants once. In contrast, confidence was mentioned 32 times by eight different participants. Student 3 spoke about confidence ten times during the course of the interview.

Focusing the researcher’s lens, or what Stake (2010) calls progressive focusing I began tallying pedagogy and philosophy codes for Wood and Kaye. Of the 26 pedagogy codes, 15 were in interviews with Wood and Kaye. All 30 philosophy codes were in interviews with

Wood and Kaye. At this point, I proceeded to write out each of the coded statements made by

Wood and Kaye pertaining to philosophy. During this process the number of codes was further refined to 28. Examining the statements for overlapping themes and ideas, I was able to synthesize four main points of the EYS philosophy:

 EYS is a bridge from classical music to classic rock and contemporary.

 The use of movement is important to EYS methodology.

 Creativity and innovation are important aspects of the program.

 The program demonstrates a desire to empower growth in and outside of music.

History of Electrify Your Strings

During the course of Wood’s and Kaye’s interviews, I asked several question regarding the creation of EYS. These questions aimed at answering the first research question: What is the history of the EYS program and what was the driving philosophy behind its start?

According to Wood and Kaye, the first EYS happened when a high school orchestra teacher, Elizabeth Hankins, approached Wood about putting together an electric string orchestra for her program in Cleveland. Wood was tasked with building a double quartet of electric instruments for what would become The Lakewood Project. Wood says of that first EYS,

“…schools had no interest with me. This first program with The Lakewood Project changed everything because I saw the energy and the commitment and the high school energy of being innovative,” (Wood interview, Appendix C). With this shift in mindset, the success of the first performance, and the attention gathered through word of mouth, Electrify Your Strings became an official program. Its early philosophy, according to Wood, was simple; encourage students to think differently and change perceptions of music so that students, “see it as an infinite roadway to expressing themselves through their music,” (Wood interview, Appendix C).

While EYS has grown and evolved over the years, it closely resembles that first event with The Lakewood Project. EYS from the beginning has been based in classic rock and

American styles because, as Kaye states in her interview, “the real bridge from the classical world to the contemporary world is the vast history of American music,”. The incorporation of technology and the use of the news media for community outreach and advocacy of the music programs has been an important part of the EYS experience since the beginning as well. Wood

28 says, “The mission is to elevate, empower and grow the program so that ten years down the road the music program is that much stronger,” (Wood interview, Appendix C).

The first few years of the program Wood and Kaye only did a few school visits as word of the new program was spreading amongst teachers. Now they visit between 30 and 50 schools per year, with some visits incorporating an entire county or school districts’ music programs. To meet the needs of the growing program they have expanded to include Electrify Your Band,

Electrify Your Symphony and Electrify Your Choir. While choir has been a part of EYS since the very first performance, it can now be a stand-alone program separate from the EYS. EYS also has expanded to include 12 new educators, or what they have termed Artist/Mentors. As new Artist/Mentors are included, the music diversity of the program expands to include that

Artist/Mentor’s strengths and passion. What began as a classic rock emphasis now includes Latin rock, hip hop, dance music and what Kaye calls, “classic contemporary.”

The EYS Process

In order to determine what pedagogical benefits the EYS program might provide a typical music ensemble, I asked a series of open-ended questions during the course of interviewing teachers and students as well as Kaye and Wood. The responses received, along with my own experience with EYS events, provided a picture of what I will refer to as the EYS process.

First, after scheduling an EYS event and completing contracts and down payments, EYS provides the school with an exclusive website. On this website, MP3’s of all the songs to be performed, usually around ten, as well as PDF’s of notated music are placed. The teacher is instructed to listen to the MP3’s with their students first in order to get a feel for the music. They also are encouraged to play along with the recordings, and to play the feel of the music rather than sticking to the rigidity of that notation. This methodology is counter to normal acquisition of

29 music skills in our current public school music model, in which symbols and notation come before sound, and more in line with the methods of Suzuki, (Lehman, et al, 2007). The ensemble is responsible for learning to play all of the music prior to Wood’s visit. He is available for consultation via phone and e-mail during this time, but it is up to the teacher to design the rehearsal method in preparation of the workshop.

Wood begins the first day of the EYS workshop with tuning. Description of this fundamental skill necessary for all musicians appears obvious, however, during the course of

Teacher 3’s interview, she/he admitted trepidation prior to the first EYS event caused by a belief that EYS did not emphasize proper fundamentals and string pedagogy practices. This fear was alleviated once the EYS workshop began. According to Teacher 3, Wood takes his time with the tuning and is very precise, emphasizing the importance of good intonation, (Teacher 3 interview,

Appendix C). Then he begins scales, usually a two octave, with a drum loop and a harmonic base to accompany it. Again, Wood doesn’t rush through the process, emphasizing the importance of playing scales. “I introduce to the teachers what they need to do for five minutes of every single day of their rehearsals with these drills. These drills incorporate…drum loops and drones. The two things that are most challenging as a musician are rhythm and intonation,” (Wood interview,

Appendix C) It is during scale exercises that movement is introduced. Starting simply with just standing up and playing, Wood systematically increases movement until the students are comfortable with playing the scale and moving their feet together.

Once scales are completed, Wood has the ensembles play through each of the pieces to evaluate what needs work. Wood begins rehearsing parts and also starts adding choreography for each song, and selecting students to play the electric instruments that he travels with. During this time, Wood insists on good intonation and technique while also encouraging the students to

30 display showmanship as well. With a single day workshop, the students would then do a dress rehearsal followed by a performance that evening. A two-day workshop incorporates the choir into the rehearsal on the second day if they are utilizing the Electrify Your Choir component.

Day two begins with tuning and scales in a similar sequence as day one. Depending on the progress made during the previous rehearsal, Wood sometimes will do call and response and short improvisation games as well. The focus of day two is polishing the music, and increasing the showmanship so that, according to Wood, the performance will, “have a direct contact with the hearts of the musicians to the hearts of the audience.” He goes on to say that, “if that is broken in any way, the audience falls asleep…” (Wood interview, Appendix C).

The last night of the workshop is the performance. As stated in the interviews by several students, teachers, administrators and parents: this performance is a rock concert. The use of professional sound and lighting produces what both interviewed administrators described as a professional quality product. Both administrators had high praise for the EYS program after the first EYS concert their schools hosted. One said, “I think it’s probably the best thing I have ever seen on our high school campus,” (Administrator 1 interview, Appendix C) and the other said,

“…and that [EYS], is absolutely one of my favorite events we host in our school, without a doubt,” (Administrator 2 interview, Appendix C) Both administrators have been at their respective schools for a decade or more and are involved in all activities at the school including sports, clubs, academic programs and the arts.

After completion of the workshop, Wood and Kaye encourages the students to stay connected with them through their social media, and they encourage teachers to keep reaching out to them via phone and e-mail, emphasizing a continued relationship beyond the short time

EYS is physically at the school.

Perception of EYS—Hindrances

Several items were coded as perceived hindrances in participating in a EYS. Most were mentioned only by one participant. These included having to go back to the real world when

EYS was over (Student 3), hyper focus of the students in exclusion of everything else

(Administrator 2), and experimenting in rehearsal long after EYS was over (Student 1). Two hindrances emerged as common and important to several participants: cost associated with hosting an EYS event (Teacher 1,2,3, Student 3, and Administrator 1), and logistics of hosting an

EYS event (Teacher 1,2, Administrator 1,2).

Cost

Depending on the workshop you contract to do and your school’s location, hosting an

EYS event can range in price from several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars. There are many variables that contribute to this cost difference, but the main variables are the type of workshop contracted, the number of Artist/Mentors used, the type of venue used, and transportation and hotel expenses. A one-day workshop with just Wood is less expensive than a two-day workshop with Wood, Kaye, members of Wood’s band and the choreographer. While school auditoriums may not have a venue fee, an EYS event may also require the renting of additional sound equipment and the hiring of a professional sound technician. Airfare expenses and hotel fees push the cost up for any school that isn’t in the immediate area of the EYS office in New York. Upon signing the contract scheduling an EYS event, a deposit must be paid.

Teacher 2 stated his/her trepidation in regards to money, “So the first thing is, can you even come up with a budget to make it happen? And that’s a lot of money to sign your name to, to get started,” (Teacher 2 interview, Appendix C).

For most public school music programs, the EYS workshop is financed through fundraising. Fundraising becomes another hindrance associated with cost. The teacher now must keep track of fundraising orders, money turned in, outstanding money due, and in some instances, individual student account totals. Administrator 1, when asked about any parental concerns with the EYS event, commented that the only parental concern they fielded had to do with fundraising and whether or not money had been turned in.

Logistics

Several teachers discussed logistics as being a hindrance during their EYS events. One of the biggest logistical problems voiced by participants, and myself included, was scheduling. In order to have adequate time to fundraise to cover the cost of an EYS event, one needs to schedule an event more than a year in advance. Trying to avoid athletic activities, mandatory testing dates, and all the other activities happening at a school can be difficult and frustrating.

One also must consider where in the orchestra’s season an EYS event would fit. It is impossible to predict what complications may arise when picking a date so far in the future. One teacher’s school was out for a week prior to their event because of a hurricane. One student’s EYS event was cancelled after the first day of the workshop because of weather and had to be rescheduled several months later. With EYS providing more workshops each year, the scheduling of events will become more of a logistical problem.

Another logistical problem mentioned Teacher 2 was bureaucratic problems within their own district. For Teacher 2, the processes implemented by their school district for signing contracts and the process for adding and paying vendors was complicated and time consuming.

An EYS event must be scheduled a year in advance or more. Because a new school year started, Teacher 2’s district wanted to start the whole process of signing contracts again, a

33 process the teacher said would take another month. This is one school district and therefore cannot speak to all school districts, but most districts do have processes for collecting, depositing and paying out money and the logistics of doing so could be a hindrance.

Lehmann, et al. (2007) define expectancy-value theory as a motivational framework that weighs what is expected to carry out an endeavor against the value placed on that endeavor.

According to the theory, if it is perceived that the endeavor requires more work than its perceived value, it is less likely to hold interest or be completed. The reverse is true as well. All of the participants who discussed cost or logistical hindrances said that the EYS event was worth it, placing a high personal value on what the students were gaining from participation, and that the logistics become easier with each additional time hosting.

Perception of EYS—Benefits

Unlike hindrances, all twelve participants spoke of a multitude of benefits they perceived as a result from their participation in an EYS event. Participants described benefits more than hindrances by nearly a 5 to 1 margin. This perception of benefits possibly attributes to each individuals’ personal value of the EYS program and willingness to participate in an EYS event multiple times despite the hindrances mentioned. The five main benefits discussed by nearly all participants were: increased support for the program, growth and retention of the program, increased confidence among student participants, increased camaraderie among student participants, and a personal relationship between Wood and Kaye and the participants.

Increased Support for the Orchestra Program

“Music education has always required advocacy to solidify its place in the school curriculum. Music teachers are increasingly called on to justify their existence and importance in the schools,” says Elpus (2007 pg. 13), discussing music education advocacy. The National

Association for Music Education’s online advocacy portal includes an advocacy bulletin, a grassroots action center, and information on attending an advocacy summit, (NAfME, 2018).

Advocacy is a buzzword in music education. Though no participant was asked directly about advocacy, a pattern of increased support for the music program emerged.

Many of the students and teachers interviewed commented about increased parental support and involvement because of EYS. Lehmann (2007) proposed that parental support is a strong motivation for their children’s music development and the lack of parental support often leads to students dropping out of music. Parent 1 stated that she/he was able to have conversations with her child about the music in a deeper way because they were familiar with the music and style, whereas with the student’s typical concert music, the parent didn’t feel like she/he could talk to her student about the music (Parent 1 interview, Appendix C).

Many of the students (Student 1,3) and teachers (Teacher 1,2,3) interviewed spoke about parents who would not come to the school’s regular concerts, but came to the EYS event. I asked

Kaye if she had a story from EYS that she would like to share. She told of a student who was given one of the solos for that evening’s performance. The student expressed to Kaye that his mother never came to concerts, and that he hoped she would so she could see the work the student had done in performance. After the performance the student introduced Kaye to his mom saying, “my mom came to the show, has never come to one of my shows before,” (Kaye interview, Appendix C).

Another increase in support came from the community. Teacher 2 likened the EYS performance to the marching band and the choir. Teacher 2 discussed this point. “People will go to the football games, so they see the band, or the choir sing the Star Spangled Banner, but they weren’t ever seeing the orchestra,” (Teacher 2 interview, Appendix C). Student 2 also discussed

35 marching band. “You see band kids be so publicized and bands playing at half time events…”

(Student 2 interview, Appendix C). These ensembles appear to be in the public eye more than orchestra due to the nature of the types of performances they present. By participating in an EYS event, they perceived the orchestra being more in the public eye because the nature of the concert brought in community who would not have attended otherwise.

Teacher 3 told of a community member asking if they could expand the EYS the next time to include the local youth orchestra. This was a community member, not a parent of a student, who was actively getting involved in developing the next EYS. Teacher 1 discussed all of the media coverage she/he had for her events and the local business partnerships she/he developed in order to produce her EYS event. From personal experience, EYS and the media coverage we received during the event increased the orchestra’s visibility in the community. Up until that point, it seemed that few people in the community were aware there was an orchestra in our district unless they were connected through a student of the program.

The final area of support discussed by participants was that of their respective administrations. Teacher 2 said that they “had principals and board members…come to our concert and that had never happened before…” (Teacher 2 interview, Appendix C). Teacher 1 spoke about her administration buying into the concept of EYS and showing their support by covering half of the cost of hosting the event.

This increased administrative support can be seen in the administrator interview responses. Both administrators considered the EYS as the best event or their favorite event happening on their campuses. When asked if they anticipate hosting another EYS at their schools both answered exuberantly in the positive. Both administrators spoke of the positive impact EYS made to the orchestra program at their school. “I’m a firm believer that kids need something to

36 be attached to in their school and if that [EYS] is the event that leads them into orchestra, which then makes their experience in school more positive, then that can only bring benefits for them,”

(Administrator 2 interview, Appendix C)

Increased Growth and Retention of the Orchestra Program

Abramo (2010), discussing student participation in band, orchestra or choir in high school asked, “How do we maintain an intellectual and stimulating educational process while making music classes attractive to the 84 percent of students who do not participate in ensembles?” (pg.

16). When asked about the outcome desired immediately prior to the EYS event, Teacher 1 responded, “My big reasoning was I really wanted to grow my program, through getting my kids excited, having them stick with orchestra through middle school and high school,” (Teacher 1 interview, Appendix C). Administrator 2 echoed that desire. “…you’re seeing kids make connections between orchestra and popular music. That creates an enthusiasm for them. So your program’s going to build, your skills are going to improve, you’re going to have kids retain in the program,” (Administrator 2 interview, Appendix C). Teacher 2 thinks EYS, “is a real program builder,” (Teacher 2 interview, Appendix C).

“They’re sort of left alone,” Wood said of music teachers, “with selling orchestra to kids who want to play soccer, who want to play football, who want to be in the computer club,”

(Wood interview, Appendix C). Teacher 3 had this problem in her/his program because as her/his students aged, they were finding other things that interested them more than orchestra.

Doing the EYS program had an effect. “My retention numbers were phenomenal. My students who said they were quitting because they wanted to do swimming or track, that didn’t think they could do both, actually stayed in and brought in some of their friends,” (Teacher 3 interview,

Appendix C).

Parent 1 made an interesting observation regarding their school district. In the district, going from middle school to high school students have the option of going to the standard high school, or one of two magnet schools. Orchestra students, according to this participant, were choosing to attend one of the magnet schools because the orchestra programs participated in EYS and the standard high school did not.

Increased Confidence among Orchestra Students

This emergent theme was not universal across any of the sub-categories of participants except for students who had participated in an EYS event. Wood did not mention increased confidence in his interview. Despite this, increased confidence was still the most common subtheme to emerge regarding perceived benefits of participation in an EYS event. Student 2 spoke of this benefit to the exclusion of all other subthemes, and Student 3 discussed an increase in confidence after participation in an EYS event ten different times. For the majority of participants (eight out of twelve), and especially these two students, an increase in confidence was a significant benefit from their participation in an EYS event.

Many of the teachers and students told of confidence transferring from the EYS event into the regular classroom. The confidence gained from participating in EYS remained after the event was over, visible in the preparation of the school’s normal concert repertoire. These same participants, along with Administrator 2 and Parent 1, spoke of seeing the increased confidence in other areas of the students’ lives outside the music classroom.

Increased Camaraderie among Orchestra Students

Themes emerged through the course of the interviews. The idea of increased camaraderie emerged in several of the interviews early on. Camaraderie is integral anywhere collaboration and working with other people for a common goal is necessary.

Of the twelve participants who discussed camaraderie, seven of them mentioned this drawing closer together through an intense drive towards a common goal. It is unlikely these students’ orchestra programs were without camaraderie before EYS. Something about the EYS experience drew the students into a deeper bond than they had previously had with their typical orchestra concerts.

Personal Relationship with Wood and Kaye

The final emergent theme from the data collection process was the most prolific amongst the participants. Ten of the twelve participant interviews mentioned this relationship, including all of the teachers, all of the parents and both Wood and Kaye.

This theme appeared in the first coding attempt in a variety of forms, complicating the coding process. However, once all of the codes were examined together, it was clear that, at their most basic, every instance was speaking to a personal relationship that had formed with Wood,

Kaye or another EYS Artist/Mentor. For the teachers, this personal relationship often began prior to the EYS event during discussions with Wood leading up to the event. These personal relationships continue after the EYS event with Wood and Kaye’s encouragement.

Philosophy of Electrify Your Strings

Having discovered after the second coding that the only philosophy codes pertinent to the research question were recorded in Wood and Kaye’s interviews, I proceeded to look at all of their codes together. After constructing a table of the codes from Wood on one side and Kaye on the other, I began to look for similarities between their statements.

Examining Wood and Kaye’s philosophical codes produced four main components that form the philosophy of EYS. The four components were:

 EYS is a bridge from Western European classical music to classic rock and

contemporary music.

 Movement is an important aspect of the EYS methodology.

 Creativity and innovation are integral components of EYS.

 EYS demonstrates a desire to empower students for growth in music and all

aspects of life.

These four components, when synthesized together, produce a succinct philosophy statement. EYS is a bridge from classical music to contemporary music incorporating creativity, innovation and movement in order to empower students to grow in music and all aspects of life.

This synthesized philosophy was shared with Wood and Kaye, requesting confirmation or clarification. Both individuals stated the philosophy here was correct and offered no clarification.

CHAPTER 5

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

This study’s purpose was to examine Mark Wood’s Electrify Your Strings (EYS) program. Wood has been traveling across the United States for over 15 years, visiting public school orchestra programs and performing classic rock and contemporary music, in partnership with the music students and educators of the program. Three research questions focused the study of the EYS program. The research questions were:

 Research question 1-What is the history of the Electrify Your Strings program and

what was the driving philosophy behind its start?

 Research question 2-What are the pedagogical benefits, if any, that Electrify Your

Strings provides a typical music ensemble?

 Research question 3-What is the perception of Electrify Your Strings by current

music educators, students, parents and school administrators?

Discussion

As the study progressed, research question one and three began to expand, while research question two remained unchanged. It is not uncommon for researchers to refine their research questions as their study progresses (Stake, 2010).

The question regarding the history of the EYS program remained unchanged; however, the second half of the question expanded to the philosophy of Electrify Your Strings. This was due to Wood and Kaye’s responses to interview questions regarding the beginning of EYS. EYS was a product of happenstance, an opportunity presenting itself and being grasped by Wood.

Kaye described it as, “how Mark and I have essentially lived our entire creative lives. When a door opens, we walk through it,” (Kaye interview, Appendix C).

Research question three was narrowed in its wording to give it more direction. I quickly realized that the original question was what Stake would call too broad, only identifying the area

I wanted to work in, but not specific enough to draw meaningful conclusions, (2010). The refined research question became, “What are the perceived benefits and/or hindrances of participating in an Electrify Your Strings program held by current music educators, students, parents and school administrators?”

Research Question 1: What is the history of the EYS program and what is its driving philosophy?

The EYS program has grown in scope and size over the years, evolving to include more

Artist/Mentors and a wider range of American music styles. The fundamental pieces of the program, however, have remained much the same as that first event in Ohio in 2002.

Examining philosophical statements made by Wood and Kaye regarding the philosophy of EYS, I inferred an overarching philosophical statement for the program: Electrify Your

Strings is a bridge from classical music to contemporary music incorporating creativity, innovation and movement in order to empower students to grow in music and in all aspects of life.

According to Allsup (2011), “one common misconception that classical musicians bring to the study of popular music is that the two art forms exist across a seemingly vast, unbridgeable gulf,” (pg. 31). Wood and Kaye intend to use, “the vast history of American Music,” to cross this vast, unbridgeable gulf discussed by Allsup because they believe that while classic rock and contemporary music is a different style, “it is no less important” (Kaye interview, Appendix C).

Wood and Kaye do this by, “building on a foundation that educators were already using with their students to great success…” (Kaye interview, Appendix C). By building on the already established foundation of Western European classical music, EYS builds a bridge between the

42 two art forms. In this way, EYS avoids what Allsup (2011) described as “manipulation of the students’ interests,” and instead builds a two-way bridge that allows the two styles to be mutually beneficial (pg. 31). “I think the question really is, how our classical traditions can be transferred into other world styles,” (Wood interview, Appendix C).

Creativity and innovation are important aspects of the EYS philosophy, and a key component of informal learning practices, (Allsup, 2003; Green, 2006; Hall, 2015). “Creativity is frequently cited by employers as a sought after quality in graduates,” (Hall, 2015 pg. 104).

Discussing creativity and innovation, Wood said that he wants “to do what all our great composers do. Innovate,” (Wood interview, Appendix C). He compares emphasizing creativity and innovation to the great composers of the past who developed a foundation of knowledge from those composers who came before them, but then started to innovate and create something new.

Parent 2 shared thoughts about the EYS program during the interview. “I really love the way the leaders let the kids shape the music and bringing the kids out in it so that I think if you saw the same set played at four different schools, you would see four completely different performances,” (Parent 2 interview, Appendix C). Hall (2015) supported this observation in his research, seeking a classroom environment where the teacher is in a mentoring relationship with the student. Moving away from the master/apprentice model to a mentoring relationship will foster creativity, observable by outsiders.

The National Core Arts Standards for dance currently has eleven anchor standards.

While EYS utilizes simple movements and does not cover all of these standards, it is important to consider that it does address the more basic standards for this National Core Art.

The incorporation of movement was not a pedagogical decision in the infancy of EYS, but rather a tool to get students to understand that the atmosphere in the rehearsals and performance was going to be wholly different from their typical orchestra rehearsal and concert,

(Kaye interview, Appendix C). Wood posed the question, “how do you teach passion, how do you teach emotion in your playing? (Wood interview, Appendix C). He went on to say he had found that by swaying side to side and rocking back and forth, utilizing simple movements, the door to passion and feeling was opened for the students, (Wood interview, Appendix C).

The final piece of the Electrify Your Strings philosophy is empowering students to grow in music and in all aspects of life. Campbell (2007), in her research examining adolescent responses to a writing prompt about keeping music in schools, said that music in general provided adolescents a path to creating aspects of their identities in relation to group and self.

She continued by expanding beyond listening to music to the active involvement of making music. This active involvement, Campbell says, “give adolescents the freedom…to be themselves, to be different, to be someone they thought they could never be, to be comfortable and relaxed in school and elsewhere in their lives,” (pg. 226). Kaye, in her interview, echoed

Campbell’s statements. “…by giving these kids a creative outlet to be who they are, they can take those skills to every other aspect of their lives and every other subject in school and everything else that they do in their lives,” (Kaye interview, Appendix C).

Green (2006) described the non-sound aspects the music provides the listener such as social context as delineated meanings, and inherent meanings are those relating to sound.

Reimer (2003) also discussed inherent and delineated meanings; “Attention to the created sounds, supplemented and enriched by all the meanings attributed to, suggested by, and incorporated within those sounds, will most genuinely represent the nature of music,” (pg. 89).

Wood voiced a similar belief. “There is no other environment outside the arts that gives you that type of experience [‘you’re laughing, you’re expressing yourself, you’re joyous, you’re deep into the expression,’], which of course leads to a better understanding of the world and better equipped to be successful in a day and age where creativity is the most important aspect of success,” (Wood interview, Appendix C).

Research Question 2: What Are the Pedagogical Benefits, If Any, That EYS Provides a Typical Music Ensemble?

It is important to note that EYS is not a new pedagogy. Wood and Kaye use what the educator is already doing in his or her classroom. “We are not removing our tradition…we are not replacing it, we are augmenting it, just like the band program and the choir programs all do.”

They use rock and contemporary music, which can be played with good technique and follow the same eighth note feel and rhythmic structures as Western European classical music, to create what Wood calls “a laboratory to experiment, and that’s where creativity comes from” (Wood interview, Appendix C).

Teacher 3 described in the interview her/his hesitation with the EYS program because all they had ever seen was rock music being played with poor technique and posture. This hesitation went away after seeing Wood incorporate rock music and other styles with a strong fundamentals emphasis. Student 1 expected EYS to be laid back. In her/his interview, she/he said EYS, “was just as rigid and focused as someone playing classical,” (Student 1 interview,

Appendix C).

“Critical musicianship, the ability to think and act autonomously, can be best developed in settings where the unpredictable and unfamiliar are uncovered with others,” (Allsup, 2011 pg.

32). Unpredictable and unfamiliar were similar words some participants used to describe their first EYS.

EYS emphasizes its pedagogical contributions as empowering creativity, innovation, and self-expression. While some of the interviews spoke about students seeking out new music, seeking to find their sound, and delving into the electronic world of amplification and pedals, it is difficult to draw any conclusions from the data provided from the interviews. A prolonged study researching the creative, innovative and self-expressive benefits is needed to determine whether EYS has a significant impact on students.

Several teachers, myself included, and a parent all said that EYS improved their students rhythmic reading and accuracy. The reading of difficult rhythms and syncopation often found in rock music transferred back into the regular classroom. Teacher 1 said that they sight read at music contest better after their EYS event.

EYS is not a new pedagogy. The techniques used by Wood in the workshops are the similar to techniques utilized in the traditional orchestral ensemble, just augmented with technology and a different style of music. Research investigating popular music in Beijing schools suggested that by incorporating contemporary music and Western European classical music both fully, the two art forms could compliment educational thinking in regards to society and culture (Ho, 2014). Wood believes that the music of technically advanced bands such as

Pink Floyd, Rush, and Led Zeppelin is, “the perfect partner with our classical heritage.” Playing this style music well requires a high level of musicianship and discipline, and also control of the instrument and bow. EYS emphasizes the already accepted pedagogy in many public school music programs, demonstrating to students that good fundamentals and technique are transferrable to all genres of music, and that all genres of music can be played with the students’ orchestral instrument.

Research Question 3: What Are the Perceived benefits and/or Hindrances of Participating in an Electrify Your Strings Program Held by Current Music Educators, Students, Parents and School Administrators?

In Chapter 4: Results, I discussed the perceived hindrances of participating in an EYS program. Participants discussed far fewer hindrances than benefits and of those few, there were only a two that were significant amongst the participants; cost and logistics. Both of these hindrances were examined in chapter 4 in some detail. The key point is that these perceived hindrances, while being inconvenient, were endured by the participants and universally described as being “so worth it in the end,” (Teacher 1 interview, Appendix C). During the course of analyzing the interviews, I discovered that all the participants had participated in or experienced,

(in the case of the administrators and parents), more than one EYS event. If cost and logistics had unbalanced the expectancy-value (Lehmann, et al, 2007) held by each of the participants, future participation in an EYS event would have been unlikely.

Increased Confidence

Many factors determine a student’s achievement in music. Parental involvement, prior successes and failures, and social factors can each affect a student’s growth in music. Another factor, self-efficacy, is defined as what a student believes about their own abilities, (Lehman, et al, 2007). Students with higher self-efficacy would be confident with their playing abilities, while students with lower self-efficacy would be unsure about their playing. Research has shown that students receiving the best performance ratings also are those with the highest expressed confidence, (Lehman, et al, 2007). In another study, a greater enjoyment of music was also reported for individuals with higher confidence, (Kamin, 2007).

According to Dweck (2006), there are two different mindsets humans can have, and we can move back and forth between these mindsets. A person with a fixed-mindset believes you

47 only have a certain amount of intelligence, personality or moral character. Because these qualities are unchanging, people with the fixed-mindset are always trying to prove that they have the right amount of these qualities. A growth-mindset is the opposite of the fixed-mindset.

People with this mindset believe the same qualities that are concrete for the fixed-mindset are actually changeable through effort and can grow through application and experience (Dweck,

2006). Growth-mindset students have a clearer idea about their own abilities, are more willing to take risk, and are survivors. When the going gets tough, the fixed-minded student shrivels, while the growth-minded student doggedly trudges on and perseveres.

Self-efficacy and Dweck’s mindset work in tandem. Educators interact with music students who are at different places of the self-efficacy and mindset spectrum. The student who is a confident player and continues to increase their abilities would have a growth mindset with a high self-efficacy. The student who becomes easily frustrated and gives up easily may have a fixed-mindset about their lack of ability and therefore low self-efficacy. These students can move from one mindset to the other, and their self-efficacy can change.

Having analyzed participant interviews, EYS may have been the event that moved their position. Student 1 was a middle to back of ensemble player prior to EYS, and Student 2 wanted to hide in the ensemble and not be seen. Both of these students spoke of a greater confidence in their abilities after EYS, propelling them to increase their abilities and take on leadership roles in the ensemble. This increase in confidence was not limited to orchestra. Student 2 discussed seeking out on-stage roles in theater productions due to the increase in confidence after EYS.

Student 3 said, “I got a lot more confident in what I could do as a musician and what I could do with my life in general,” (Student 3 interview, Appendix C).

Several teacher participants spoke of students in their programs who were not the best players in the ensemble prior to EYS becoming strong leaders and players afterwards. In my own program I have witnessed this same shift in mindset and self-efficacy in students after EYS.

Researched programs, such as The Lakewood Project, which incorporates the use of rock and contemporary music, and The Chelsea House Orchestra, which incorporates Celtic music, also have reported a growth in confidence for participants, (Koops, et al. 2014; Oare, 2008).

Future research is needed to determine what elements of these programs create this perceived paradigm shift in students. Also of interest is the duration of the change in students. Is it simply a reflex to playing a different genre of music that dissipates quickly, or is it a permanent change in the student?

Increased Growth and Retention of Orchestra Program

Reviewing data presented in the literature review presented a pattern of decline in enrollment of the traditional public school music ensembles such as band, orchestra and choir.

In the state of Florida, enrollment in all music classes declined from 16.45% of high school students enrolled in music class in 1985 to 11.67% in 2005 (Florida Department of Education).

Abramo’s (2010) research supports these numbers revealing his own high school number is close to 16% of students in a traditional ensemble. Compared to Florida, that number appears better at face value; however, this means that 84% of the student population at Abramo’s high school do not participate in music. It is estimated that 45% of those students not currently in a music class have an interest in music making, (Hargreaves and Marshall, 2003), but many of them are

“desperately seeking relevance,” or seeking “curricular developments in the study of popular music styles,” (Campbell, et al, 2007 pg. 230).

The growth of programs and retention of students in those programs, while not being unique to music classes, distinguishes them from core classes such as English, Social Studies and

Math. Teacher 1 specifically said that the outcome she/he wanted from participating in EYS was to grow the program and retain the students currently in the program (Teacher 1 interview,

Appendix C). Parent 1 said they hear from other parents saying, “…their child was thinking about quitting orchestra until they participated in EYS and now they wanted to stay with it,”

(Parent 1 interview, Appendix C). Student 1 said the orchestra program at their school appeared to grow after participation in an EYS event. Other programs that utilize music outside Western

European classical music have seen growth in their programs as well. The orchestra that feeds the Chelsea House Orchestra has seen growth in their program numbers. As described by Oare

(2008), the, “orchestra enrollment is enormous, considering the size of the district,” (pg. 76).

Teacher 3 had growth beyond enrollment in the program. Class offerings were expanding for the next year with the addition of a rock orchestra ensemble during the school day utilizing electric instruments, and designed to be an academic class that earns credits towards high school graduation.

Increased Camaraderie

The music programs of the participants did not have a lack of camaraderie before their participation in an EYS event, the number of students, teachers and parents who discussed an increase in camaraderie does show a perceived benefit. Hall (2015), speaking of informal learning, said, “a mentoring learning environment enables the forming of strong, rich relationships through shared experience and creative collaboration,”. EYS, for many students, becomes this mentoring learning environment as they interact with the various Artist/Mentors in preparation for their performance. Green (2006), discussing democratic learning groups utilizing

50 popular music, reported students who were normally disaffected in the traditional music class as cooperating in the group more and applying themselves more in the democratic learning groups.

Camaraderie for some students in traditional ensembles becomes like family, the bonds of belonging are so strong, (Campbell, et al, 2007). Parent 1 used the same wording speaking of their child’s orchestra becoming a family after EYS, (Parent 1 interview, Appendix C). Finding a place in a musical social structure can solidify that student’s desire to continue participating in music, (Lehman, et al, (2007).

Wood, after describing his experience at Juilliard as, “a very isolating, disconnected experience,” (Wood interview, Appendix C), said, “We must destroy that philosophy of isolationism that orchestra does,” (Wood interview, Appendix C). Student 3 felt like EYS brought all the students closer together, and Student 1 said a camaraderie in the orchestra formed because of the intensive nature of working together towards their performance.

Wood had strong feelings about the risks involved with isolation in music. In his interview he brought up the concept of musical xenophobia, or the fear of other music styles and genres. In his opinion, “Musical xenophobia is the death of our music programs,” (Wood interview, Appendix C). Further research into the concept of musical xenophobia could yield results that would impact pre-service music education training as well as curriculum policies regarding music classes.

Increased Support

Participants in the current study discussed increased support from school administration, community and parents after participating in an EYS event. In this discussion, I would like to focus on the increased parent support because of its importance in a young musicians’ development, (Lehman, et al, (2007). Musicians interviewed by Kamin (2007) during a study of

51 influences of music development in non-classical musicians reported hindrances to their development due to a lack of, or negative, parental support.

Teacher 1 spoke of parents who were grudgingly going to orchestra concerts before EYS and were now excited to attend the EYS performance, (Teacher 1 interview, Appendix C).

Teacher 2 said, “Parents that don’t even understand what the kids are doing, they’re the ones that really, really enjoyed it,” (Teacher 2 interview, Appendix C). For Student 3, EYS was an opportunity for family and friends who had never attended an orchestra concert to see her play,

“in a really cool and unique way,” (Student 3). Administrator 1 touched on a possible reason for the increased support during her/his interview. “…it [EYS] makes music relevant to more students, and even I think, for their parents,” (Administrator 1 interview, Appendix C). They continued to say that parents and community, “want to come. They want to see it [EYS], they will pay to see it, and we don’t have enough seats for it,” (Administrator 1 interview, Appendix

C).

Wood, when asked what surprised him about Electrify Your Strings, discussed parents embracing the program and discovering how critical it is to the program. This generation of parents, according to Wood, didn’t grow up on classical music like his parents did. They, “grew up on rock and hip-hop and R&B, so when their kids play a song they relate to it’s, ‘oh, play that song again. I love that song,’” (Wood interview, Appendix C). A student’s home is likely where their musical path began, surrounded by the music of their parents, (Lehman, et al, 2007). EYS then becomes an event that brings the parent/student relationship regarding music back to, or closer to, where it began before the student made the decision to play in the school orchestra program.

Personal Relationship

Regarding their study of using creativity in popular music ensemble workshops, Hall

(2015) said, “a mentoring learning environment enables the forming of strong, rich relationships through shared experience and creative collaboration, as well as opportunities for shared experience between staff and students…” (pg. 110). Nearly every participant interviewed spoke about a relationship that was formed with Wood and other Artist/Mentors through an EYS event.

Many of the participants spoke of the genuineness of Wood’s interactions with the teachers and students. Teacher 3 said, “he was so personable and went up and got to know the kids and really had a genuine interest in their learning…my kids responded so well because they could sense it,” and the teacher assistants who were helping with the EYS event, “were all quite impressed with the genuine, down to earth nature of Mark, Laura and Elijah,” (Teacher 3 interview, Appendix

C). Parent 2 said, “It’s not that Mark comes into town and you just happen to play with a great musician; you have real relationships that continue beyond just those couple of days they’re in town,” (Parent 2 interview, Appendix C). Participants in this study also discussed how invested

Wood was and how warm and welcoming Wood was and how that made them comfortable to ask questions. Both parent participants spoke of their student’s college path changing after their

EYS event. This change, according to the two parent participants, was the direct result of the relationship built with Wood or another EYS Artist/Mentor.

Wood believes building strong relationships is important not only to the success of EYS, but also to the success of the music programs he works with throughout the year. “We don’t just come in and do a concert and say, ‘See Ya! You know we may never see you again, but we don’t care.’ It’s the opposite. We care so much about each kid who comes in, who expresses some interest in music. We want that, ‘some interest,’ in music to be a lifelong passion. A love of

53 music and expressing themselves,” (Wood interview, Appendix C). Wood accomplishes this by physically going to the music program and mentoring the teacher, student and community in order to ensure that the excitement he helps build remains long after the EYS event, (Wood and

Kaye interviews).

Summary

The Electrify Your Strings program was an overwhelmingly positive experience for all the participants involved in this study. The few hindrances that were mentioned were regarded by all participants as minor costs for the value gained from involvement in an EYS. The participants perceived these gains as increased growth and retention of their programs, increased confidence of the student musicians, increased camaraderie in their programs, and increased support for their programs.

Electrify Your Strings builds on already established string pedagogy, adding creativity, innovation, movement and self-expression to create a mutual learning environment. Through rehearsal, Wood and Kaye build student confidence, encourage expression, and refine a concert experience that increases the community exposure of the orchestra program and connects parent with students and teachers with administrators.

Electrify Your Strings is not a model of informal learning however. According to Green

(2006), informal learning requires the use of several factors:

1. Music the student selects themselves.

2. Aural learning of music rather than the use of traditional notation.

3. Peer learning with little teacher guidance.

I believe several factors hinder EYS from being a true contemporary music experience incorporating democratic and informal learning practices. First, the classroom teacher is

54 expected to teach all of the music to the students prior to Wood’s arrival. Second, the use of formal notation, rather than aural learning, facilitates this process. It allows any music teacher with a degree to use the music knowledge they have already acquired to prepare the students.

Third, the biggest hindrance to using informal learning practices with EYS is time. Wood is only with the orchestra program for a short time before departing for another school. Instead of using rock and contemporary music in the most authentic way, that which incorporates informal learning practices, EYS instead strives to be a bridge between classical and contemporary music.

The MWROC Music Festival, Wood’s summer camp, is EYS in full immersion. Here, with the benefit of Artist/Mentors trained in informal learning practices, and the needed time, MWROC

Music Festival incorporates and utilizes these democratic and informal learning practices researched by Allsup and Green.

Recommendations for Future Research

The purpose of this case study was to determine the historical background of Mark

Wood’s Electrify Your Strings, the program’s philosophy, the pedagogical benefits the EYS program may provide a school music ensemble, and the perception of the program. This was achieved through a process of interviewing individuals who have participated in an EYS program, member checking, and triangulating against current research (Creswell and Poth, 2018;

Stake, 2010).

During the course of this study several opportunities for additional research appeared.

Perceived benefits of EYS participation included increased confidence, camaraderie, program growth, and support. A quantitative study is needed to validate if the perception is indeed the reality. In addition, researching the duration of these increases in confidence, camaraderie, growth and support is suggested.

A systematic study of the EYS process, absent of participant perception, could determine the actual pedagogical benefits or hindrances for participants. By analyzing many EYS workshops across a pool of school’s having diverse socio-economic status’, a quantitative determination could be concluded regarding pedagogy.

Wood, during the course of his interview, discussed a concept of musical xenophobia, or the fear and hatred of other musical styles. His assertion was that musical xenophobia is the death of our music programs, (Wood interview, Appendix C). Is musical xenophobia significant in our music education system, from grade school through college? How does musical xenophobia actually impact student learners? Is there a historical context of musical xenophobia in the United States of America and other countries and how do they compare? These are just some of the possible research opportunities regarding Wood’s assertion.

Conclusion

Electrify Your Strings is not a new paradigm in school music pedagogy, nor does it claim to be. EYS is exactly what the creators and visionaries of the program said; a bridge between classical music and rock and contemporary music. EYS doesn’t supplant the tradition of

Western European classical music, but rather builds upon the skills already gained from that tradition in the preparation of a rock concert. Through participation in an EYS program, many of the study participants reported several benefits to their programs, including increased growth and retention in the ensemble, increased confidence and camaraderie among students, and increased support for the music program.

Further research is needed, but EYS appears to be having a lasting effect on several programs across the United States of America. One teacher participant described administrative support for starting a rock orchestra class during the school day. Another teacher started an

56 after-school rock orchestra, and there are still more teachers starting extra-curricular rock orchestras after participation an in EYS event who were not part of this study. While EYS doesn’t fully incorporate democratic or informal learning practices, many extra-curricular rock orchestra programs incorporate democratic and informal learning practices, including the very first one, The Lakewood Project.

Perhaps it is time for EYS to take a step towards universities in order to prepare future educators in the incorporation of all music genres. The inclusion of rock and contemporary music still needs justification in our education system, while other countries have embraced it fully. EYS, by all participant accounts, is a positive experience, benefiting students and music programs. According to Williams, a change in our current music education model is needed,

(2011). With potentially 84% of high school students not participating in band, orchestra or choir, he appears correct. The potential benefits, albeit perceived, acquired from participation in an EYS could be a potential change that Williams is advocating.

Wood’s program will continue to reach thousands of students and parents each year, invigorating teachers and school music ensembles with energy, confidence and support. The program has started producing its own ‘EYS music educators’, teachers who were once student participants in an EYS event, went on to get a degree in music education, and are now bringing

Electrify Your Strings into their own programs. It will be interesting to observe the continued evolution of EYS and the impact it has on future music programs.

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Kamin, S., Richards, H., and Collins, D. (2007). Influences on the Talent Development Process of Non-Classical Musicians: Psychological, Social and Environmental Influences. Music Education Research, 9(3), 449-468.

Koops, L.H., Hankins, E.A., Scalise, D., and Schatt, M.D. (2014). Rock Orchestra Reflections on the Impact of Participation in The Lakewood Project. Research Studies in Music Education, 36(2), 147-164.

Krefting, L. (1991). Rigor in Qualitative Research: The Assessment of Trustworthiness. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 45, 214-222.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (continued)

Lebler, D. (2008). Popular Music Pedagogy: Peer Learning in Practice. Music Education Research, 10(2), 193-213.

Lehman, A., Sloboda, J., and Woody, R. (2007). Psychology for Musicians: Understanding and Acquiring the Skills. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Mantie, R. (2013). A Comparison of “Popular Music Pedagogy” Discourses. Journal of Research in Music Education, 61(3), 334-352.

National Association for Music Education (NAfME) (2018). Advocacy. Retrieved from https://nafme.org/advocacy/. [cited March 20, 2018].

Oare, S. (2008). The Chelsea House Orchestra: A Case Study of a Non-Traditional School Instrumental Ensemble. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 177(1), 63-78.

Reimer, B. (2003). A Philosophy of Music Education: Advancing the Vision, Third Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Robbins, K. (2011). Mark Wood Helps Students Tap Their Inner Rock Star. Strings, 26(3), 55- 56.

Rodriguez, C.X. (2004). Popular Music in Music Education: Toward a New Conception of Musicality. Bridging the Gap: Popular Music and Music Education, 13-27.

Stake, R. (1995). The Art of Case Study Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Stake, R. (2010). Qualitative Research: Studying How Things Work. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Williams, D. A. (2011). The Elephant in the Room. Music Educators Journal, 98(1), 51-57.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Educator Interview

1. What is your occupation/title?

a. In what type of school do you teach?

b. What courses do you teach there?

2. Describe your music background.

a. What is your primary instrument?

b. Where did you study and with whom? Currently?

c. Other than listening, what is your experience with popular music?

d. Have you participated in ______? Describe it.

i. Traditional orchestral ensemble

ii. Solo work—Was it self-directed or Master/Apprentice model?

iii. Small Ensembles—Was it self-directed or Coached?

iv. Non-Traditional Orchestra Ensembles

1. Any peer-directed?

3. Before experiencing an EYS event, what was your view of popular music in the

traditional orchestral ensemble?

a. How did Mark and the EYS program altar that view, if any?

4. What was your first experience with EYS or Mark Wood?

5. Describe your views of the EYS program before your first experience?

a. What excited you about the program? Why?

APPENDIX A (continued)

b. What made you uneasy about the program? Why?

6. Would your views have been different if it was a Traditional European Classical

program?

a. If yes, how so?

b. What if it was a Mariachi, Death Metal…? something you weren’t familiar

with instead of Rock music?

7. Describe your views of the EYS program after experiencing it.

a. Did anything change? Why?

8. Are you doing anything different in your ensemble after EYS?

9. What do you believe was the benefit, if any, of doing an EYS event?

10. Do you anticipate doing another EYS?

11. Would you encourage your colleagues from other schools to participate in an EYS

event?

12. Describe your EYS workshop/program.

a. How many days, how many concert?

b. How many student participants?

c. How did the workshop proceed? What did Mark do first, second, then….

13. How would you describe your level of comfort with playing rock music?

14. How would you describe your level of comfort with teaching rock music?

15. Describe how you prepared for your EYS.

a. Did you use recordings?

i. How so? Reference, Play-Along, another way?

APPENDIX A (continued)

b. What type of seating did you use?

c. Did you incorporate movement/dance into the preparation process?

d. Who directed the student learning in the rehearsals?

16. Before the EYS, what did you want as an outcome? Or another way, what was your

reasoning for doing an EYS?

17. What benefits did you experience/witness during the EYS?

a. What about after the EYS?

18. What drawbacks did you experience/witness during the EYS?

a. What about after the EYS?

19. What surprised you about EYS?

20. Describe your average concert season?

a. What type of literature did you perform?

b. What was the rehearsal design? Seating, class progression, teacher directed?

c. What type of concerts did you perform?

21. Is there a specific story from your EYS that you think is relevant to this study that

you would like to share?

22. Is there anything else you would like to add that you think is relevant to this study?

Follow up questions as they arise during the course of the interview.

Former Student Interview

1. Describe your music background.

a. What is your primary instrument?

b. Where do you study and with whom?

APPENDIX A (continued)

c. Other than listening, what is your experience with popular music?

d. Have you participated in ______? Describe it.

i. Traditional orchestral ensemble

ii. Solo work—Was it self-directed or Master/Apprentice model?

iii. Small Ensembles—Was it self-directed or Coached?

iv. Non-Traditional Orchestra Ensembles

1. Any peer-directed?

2. Before experiencing an EYS event, what was your view of popular music in the

traditional orchestral ensemble?

a. How did Mark and the EYS program altar that view, if any?

3. What was your first experience with EYS or Mark Wood?

4. Describe your views of the EYS program before your first experience?

a. What excited you about the program? Why?

b. What made you uneasy about the program? Why?

5. Would your views have been different if it was a Traditional European Classical

program?

a. If yes, how so?

b. What if it was a Mariachi, Death Metal…? something you weren’t familiar

with instead of Rock music?

6. Describe your views of the EYS program after experiencing it.

a. Did anything change? Why?

7. Are you doing anything different in your ensemble after EYS?

APPENDIX A (continued)

8. What do you believe was the benefit, if any, of doing an EYS event?

9. Do you anticipate doing another EYS?

10. Would you encourage students from other schools to participate in an EYS event?

11. Describe your EYS workshop/program.

a. How many days, how many concert?

b. How many student participants?

c. How did the workshop proceed? What did Mark do first, second, then….

12. How would you describe your level of comfort with playing rock music?

13. Describe how you prepared for your EYS.

a. Did you use recordings?

i. How so? Reference, Play-Along, another way?

b. What type of seating did you use?

c. Did you incorporate movement/dance into the preparation process?

d. Who directed the student learning in the rehearsals?

14. Before the EYS, what did you want as an outcome?

15. What benefits did you experience/witness during the EYS?

a. What about after the EYS?

16. What drawbacks did you experience/witness during the EYS?

a. What about after the EYS?

17. What surprised you about EYS?

18. Describe your average concert season?

a. What type of literature did you perform?

APPENDIX A (continued)

b. What was the rehearsal design? Seating, class progression, teacher directed?

c. What type of concerts did you perform?

19. Is there a specific story from your EYS that you think is relevant to this study that

you would like to share?

20. Is there anything else you would like to add that you think is relevant to this study?

Follow-up questions as they arise during the course of the interview.

Parent Interview

1. What is your occupation?

a. What type of school your does/did your student attend?

2. Describe your music background.

a. What is your primary instrument, if any?

i. Where do you study and with whom?

b. Other than listening, what is your experience with popular music?

c. Have you participated in ______? Describe it.

i. Traditional orchestral ensemble

ii. Solo work—Was it self-directed or Master/Apprentice model?

iii. Small Ensembles—Was it self-directed or Coached?

iv. Non-Traditional Orchestra Ensembles

1. Any peer-directed?

3. Before experiencing an EYS event, what was your view of popular music in the

traditional orchestral ensemble?

a. How did Mark and the EYS program altar that view, if any?

APPENDIX A (continued)

4. What was your first experience with EYS or Mark Wood?

5. Describe your views of the EYS program before your first experience?

a. What excited you about the program? Why?

b. What made you uneasy about the program? Why?

6. Would your views have been different if it was a Traditional European Classical

program?

a. If yes, how so?

b. What if it was a Mariachi, Death Metal…? something you weren’t familiar

with instead of Rock music?

7. Describe your views of the EYS program after experiencing it.

a. Did anything change? Why?

8. What do you believe was the benefit, if any, of your student participating in an EYS

event?

9. Do you anticipate your student doing another EYS?

10. Would you encourage parents from other schools to participate in an EYS event?

11. Before the EYS, what did you want as an outcome for your student?

12. What benefits did you experience/witness during the EYS for your student?

a. What about after the EYS?

13. What drawbacks did you experience/witness during the EYS for your student?

a. What about after the EYS?

14. What surprised you about EYS?

15. From your perspective as a parent describe your students average concert season?

APPENDIX A (continued)

a. What type of literature do they perform?

b. What type of concerts do they perform?

16. Is there a specific story from your EYS that you think is relevant to this study that

you would like to share?

17. Is there anything else you would like to add that you think is relevant to this study?

Follow-up questions as they arise during the course of the interview.

Administrator Interview

1. What is your title?

a. What type of school do you work at?

b. What are your responsibilities there?

2. Describe your music background.

a. What is your primary instrument, if any? If none, proceed to question 3

b. Where did you study and with whom? Currently?

c. Other than listening, what is your experience with popular music?

d. Have you participated in ______? Describe it.

i. Traditional orchestral ensemble

ii. Solo work—Was it self-directed or Master/Apprentice model?

iii. Small Ensembles—Was it self-directed or Coached?

iv. Non-Traditional Orchestra Ensembles

1. Any peer-directed?

3. Before experiencing an EYS event, what was your view of popular music in the

traditional orchestral ensemble?

APPENDIX A (continued)

a. How did Mark and the EYS program altar that view, if any?

4. What was your first experience with EYS or Mark Wood?

5. Describe your views of the EYS program before your first experience?

a. What excited you about the program? Why?

b. What made you uneasy about the program? Why?

6. Would your views have been different if it was a Traditional European Classical

program?

a. If yes, how so?

b. What if it was a Mariachi, Death Metal…? something you weren’t familiar

with instead of Rock music?

7. Describe your views of the EYS program after experiencing it.

a. Did anything change? Why?

8. What do you believe was the benefit, if any, of doing an EYS event?

9. Do you anticipate hosting another EYS at your school?

a. Why/Why not?

10. Would you encourage your counterparts from other schools to host an EYS event?

11. Before the EYS, what did you want as an outcome for your school?

12. What benefits did you experience/witness during the EYS?

a. What about after the EYS?

13. What drawbacks did you experience/witness during the EYS?

a. What about after the EYS?

14. Did you see any non-music benefits from participation in EYS?

APPENDIX A (continued)

15. What surprised you about EYS?

16. Did you have any concerns about the EYS program beforehand?

17. Did you field any parent concerns before or after the EYS event?

18. What was the general reception from the community?

19. Is there a specific story from your EYS that you think is relevant to this study that

you would like to share?

20. Is there anything else you would like to add that you think is relevant to this study?

Follow-up questions as they arise during the course of the interview.

Mark Wood Interview

1. What is your full name and title?

2. Describe your music background.

a. What is your primary instrument?

b. Where did you study and with whom?

c. Other than listening, what is your experience with popular music?

d. As a student did you participate in ______? Describe it.

i. Traditional orchestral ensemble

ii. Solo work—Was it self-directed or Master/Apprentice model?

iii. Small Ensembles—Was it self-directed or Coached?

iv. Non-Traditional Orchestra Ensembles

1. Any peer-directed?

3. Talk about the beginning of EYS.

a. Where and when was the first EYS event?

APPENDIX A (continued)

i. Was is officially EYS, or just a guest appearance?

b. Describe that first event.

4. What was the purpose, as you saw it, of EYS in the beginning?

a. How has that changed, if any?

5. You currently use traditionally notated music, has EYS always been this way?

a. Why, when popular music is generally an aural acquisition, do you use

notation?

6. Why did you start EYS?

a. Why leave what, by all appearances, seemed a lucrative and enjoyable career

with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, to run EYS full time? You went from playing

for ten thousand people to performing for 700?

b. Why use popular music instead of something more accepted like fiddle

music?

7. How has the program evolved over the years?

a. Size/Scope?

b. Music?

c. Additional programs?

d. Seating?

e. Other Artists?

8. Describe your EYS workshop.

a. How many days/concerts for the typical workshop?

b. What happens first, second, then….

APPENDIX A (continued)

9. How many schools have you visited with the EYS program?

a. Estimate how many students your EYS program has impacted?

10. What is your vision for the future of EYS?

11. What do you hope remains at a school that has participated in EYS after you leave?

12. What surprised you about the EYS program?

13. Are there any EYS stories you would like to share that you believe are relevant to this

study?

14. Is there anything else you would like to add that you think is relevant to this study?

Follow-up questions as they arise during the course of the interview.

Laura Kaye Interview

1. What is your full name and title?

2. Describe your music background.

a. What is your primary instrument?

b. Where did you study and with whom?

c. Other than listening, what is your experience with popular music?

d. As a student did you participate in ______? Describe it.

i. Traditional orchestral ensemble

ii. Solo work—Was it self-directed or Master/Apprentice model?

iii. Small Ensembles—Was it self-directed or Coached?

iv. Non-Traditional Orchestra Ensembles

1. Any peer-directed?

3. Talk about the beginning of EYS.

APPENDIX A (continued)

a. Where and when was the first EYS event?

i. Was is officially EYS, or just a guest appearance?

b. Describe that first event.

4. What was the purpose, as you saw it, of EYS in the beginning?

a. How has that changed, if any?

5. You currently use traditionally notated music, has EYS always been this way?

a. Why, when popular music is generally an aural acquisition, do you use

notation?

6. Why did you and Mark start EYS?

7. How has the program evolved over the years?

a. Size/Scope?

b. Music?

c. Additional programs?

d. Seating?

e. Other Artists?

8. Describe your portion of the EYS workshop.

a. How many days/concerts for the typical workshop?

b. What happens first, second, then….

9. How many schools have hosted the EYS program?

a. Estimate how many students the EYS program has impacted?

10. What is your vision for the future of EYS?

11. What do you hope remains at a school that has participated in EYS after?

APPENDIX A (continued)

12. What surprised you about the EYS program?

13. Are there any EYS stories you would like to share that you believe are relevant to this

study?

14. Is there anything else you would like to add that you think is relevant to this study?

Follow-up questions as they arise during the course of the interview.

APPENDIX B

A PRIORI CODES

*Emergent codes are designated by parentheses.

A. Historical information regarding EYS.

B. Relating to the pedagogy of EYS.

C. Relating to the philosophy of EYS.

1. (EYS is a bridge between classical music and rock and contemporary music).

2. (Creativity and Innovation are integral components of EYS).

3. (The incorporation of movement is an important component of EYS).

4. (Desire to empower student growth in music and all aspects of life).

D. Perception

1. Benefits of EYS

i. (Increased growth and retention in ensemble).

ii. (Increased confidence among student participants).

iii. (Increased camaraderie among ensemble members).

iv. (Increased support of the music ensemble-parent, administration,

community).

v. (Development of relationship between participants and Wood and Kaye).

2. Hindrances of EYS

i. (Cost of hosting an EYS event).

ii. (Logistics of hosting an EYS event).

3. Other

E. EYS Process

APPENDIX B (continued)

F. Music Background

G. Pop Music Experience

H. Comfort Level Playing Rock

I. Comfort Level Teaching Rock

APPENDIX C

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS

Teacher 1

JS. Describe your music background for me.

T1. How far back?

JS. When you started would be a good place.

T1. Ok. I started on piano when I was five, my sister was my teacher which didn't last very long, obviously. I studied piano a little bit until the fifth grade, when the offered fifth grade strings, and so that's when I started playing violin was in the fifth grade and I stayed with it, obviously, all through high school and was an all-state player all through high school and junior high in Florida and went to Florida State University and got my bachelors of music there.

JS. Who did you study with at Florida State?

T1. I studied with Elliot Shico and Jerry Culwaski.

JS. Ok.

T1. And then I thought I wanted to do music business, so I went to *unintelligible*, it's no longer whatever, but, it was music business, kind of like a rock and roll school, in Minnesota. At the time it was called Music Tech. And so I went there and got an associates in music business. It was there that I started working in the field of like a string shop, a violin shop in Minnesota, and then I fell into playing Mariachi. And that's kind of how I got back to playing because I was kind of burnt out and had pretty much stopped playing violin. The Mariachi is what got me to Texas, I moved for that. I played professionally here, Mariachi, for...I played in Minnesota for about three years, moved here and played for four years professionally, with just like lessons and fifth grade string classes, and I went back for my Post Bac to get certified in education. That was at UTSA.

JS. Okay. Other than listening, what is your experience with popular music?

T1. Well, as like a performer, or just? Let’s see. I would say, well, I don't know if you would consider Mariachi popular, but it was popular for that kind of stuff, but I didn't really get a chance to play popular music, per say, before. In high school, you, like the Lion King or what not at the time. All of my teachers that I had looked down on upon that, a lot. The only thing I was ever really allowed to put my toe into was a little bit of fiddle music. I know my teachers at Florida State didn't even like that. I know, I did, I don't know if you would call it popular music, but at Florida State we did ethnomusicology classes there, so I was in some ensembles there that were different, and that's what kind of opened my eyes to different kinds of music. We had a

APPENDIX C (continued)

Brazilian ensemble and a West African ensemble. But I didn't know that I could do rock and roll or whatever on my instrument, because I was never allowed to do that. It wasn't until I moved to Texas, and I really didn't play pop stuff until I started teaching with my kids, and I started offering those kind of opportunities.

JS. Okay. I am going to list several types of ensembles. Tell me if you have participated in them and briefly describe your participation. Have you participated in a traditional orchestral ensemble?

T1. Yes.

JS. Okay. Were you a front row, sectional leader type of player, kind of middle of the section? What type of player?

T1. It kind of depends because I had different experiences. When I was younger, you know what not, more like in the front row, whatever, what not. I haven't really played classical ensembles really since I graduated from Florida State and moved to Minnesota. I got burned out. I did not want to play violin anymore. I was very unhappy, and not understanding the fact that, here's the other thing, a different type of music was needed in my life. But, not in Minnesota, I didn't really do anything like that. It wasn't until recently when my daughter was born and what not. I have done some community orchestras here, but it's just like filling in a chair when someone couldn't come to a gig, or something like that.

JS. Okay. Have you done solo work? When you were a student, did you do solo work?

T1. As far as, performing and getting paid places, or...

JS. No, more like preparing a concerto for a competition or for juries, stuff like that.

T1. Yes, yes, yes. I did at Florida State and again at UTSA. Did concerto work. I know I did a masterclass with, I forget her name, some Russian lady at UTSA and I was voluntold to do that. So I did do some work, but in all honesty, I was the kid who was super shy. When I was at Florida State, it was very hard for me to even perform, not only for my teachers, and like masterclasses we had. I couldn't handle it. I would break down in tears. That's the kind of kid I was at that time. I didn't have the confidence to play, so only concertos for juries, for lessons. Nothing for public performances, not very often, unless it was like a gig or something.

JS. Was that self-directed work, or was it the Master/Apprentice model?

T1. As far as the Masterclasses?

JS. As far as your solo work.

APPENDIX C (continued)

T1. Oh. It was through lesson work.

JS. Did you do any small ensembles?

T1. Yes. Did some quartets, and in college I was in different quartets. I have done quartet gigs, duets with harp players and guitar players, things like that. Nothing recently as far as classical per se. I have done other types of ensembles, but classical wise, just a quartet, in college mostly.

JS. Okay. Were those self-directed or were they coached?

T1. Both.

JS. Okay. Have you participated in any, and you kind of spoke on this already, non-traditional orchestra ensembles?

T1. Yes, yes. So in Florida State I did the Brazilian ensemble. I did West African. I did choirs. I did baroque, I did Viola D'Gamba. And then when I moved to Minnesota I did Mariachi. That was my main source of income at the time, so I did Mariachi for years.

JS. Were any of those peer directed?

T1. Yes, they were all peer...the Mariachi was all peer directed. Of course, at Florida State, those were all directed by grad students.

JS. Okay. Before experiencing and EYS event, what was your view of popular music in the traditional orchestral ensemble?

T1. I loved it, but it was never offered. I remember being at Florida State, and Canadian Brass came to play with us, and everyone was complaining because we were playing Beetles music, and I was so happy. So we were playing something different, and I loved it. But they were all upset because it wasn't classical enough for them. So that was like my first big experience playing, you know, playing different where they flipped the cellos and do fun things like that.

JS. Okay. How did Mark and the EYS program alter that view, if any?

T1. I think...I have to be honest. Before I saw Mark, I had seen, what is that group called again? That *unintelligible* fiddles, fiddlers, that adult group.

JS. Ok.

APPENDIX C (continued)

T1. Barrage. And so I had seen that, you know, as far as different styles, and I had gotten all excited about that, and working with Mark saw how I could really use that as a teacher, as something to encourage the kids and get them really excited and help my numbers at my school. And to be honest, I was always very jealous that I never had that type of opportunity when I was a kid.

JS. Okay. What was your first experience with EYS or Mark Wood?

T1. It might have been, I can't remember, 2012? It was *unintelligible* ago. It was my fourth year teaching, or my third year teaching orchestra, I think. I had seen him in, I think it was String Magazine, or Strad, or something, an ad for what he did, and I just found out some more information. I saw him at TMEA, his booth, and somehow got involved in that. The first year was a much smaller event. It took us two years to bring him to my school. It was the first time for him coming to our area. And we had to get sponsors, and one of the local violin shops helped sponsor and helped us to write some grants and such to be able to afford it. And so, it took two years to bring him and it was small. It was mostly my middle school kids and we invited one of the high schools to also perform with us, so we could use their auditorium and such. After the event, not just the fact that we made money off the event, which was amazing, but my kids were super excited, and they had a great time. We had tons of coverage. We had like three or four news stations that came, as well as the paper. Because again, nothing like this had ever come to our area, so it was very fresh. You know they wanted the kids to come play on the morning show and all these kind of things, and that's actually where I started my rock program, was through that. Because I had my kids learn String Thang and we did choreography, and it was all memorized, and we played it on the morning shows, and since then, it has expanded.

JS. Describe your views of the EYS program before your first experience. What excited you about the program, and why? And what made you uneasy about the program and why?

T1. I know the very first time I saw it in the magazine ad, I was kind of like, "what is this crazy guy with his instruments and what not?" It wasn't until I looked into it further that I really saw what he did and what it was, and I was pretty excited about it. Because, my experience, I remember being so burned out of playing what people wanted me to play and how they wanted me to play, and not having my own voice. So I was really excited about that prospect and having my students have that opportunity. And what did you say? What...

JS. What made you uneasy about the program and why? And what excited you about the program and why?

APPENDIX C (continued)

T1. The excited was that my students finding their own voice. And getting their parents excited as well about what we do. Uneasy, again, it was our first time doing it and was very expensive for us at the time, and it was a lot of responsibility because I did all the work myself. The high school, they didn't really help with anything. But it was all my own work. All the organizing and everything. That was tough the first time. And I was also the stage manager and did all the things by myself. So that was the uneasy thing. But it was so worth it in the end.

JS. So the logistics? Would you use that word?

T1. yeah, I would say the logistics. All the paper work, all of those things.

JS. Okay. Would your views have been different if it had been a European classical program?

T1. You mean as far as my views of being nervous about putting it together?

JS. Yeah, and or...would you have been as excited for it if it had been a traditional European classical program? Or would you have been more uneasy?

T1. Will you tell on me to my teachers if I tell you that I would have been less excited?

JS. No.

T1. I definitely...this is something that really speaks to me personally. And I love this music, I love having different types and styles, not just one genre per se. That has always been the kind of music that I like to listen to; different kinds, not just classical. So I don't think a classical program, even at the magnitude of this big of a thing, this big of a fundraiser, would have made me as excited, and it wouldn't have been a challenge in the same way either I don't think, because it would be so similar to what we already do. You know, all of our concerts that we already do, I already do a big show. Lots of decorations, themes, all that good stuff already, so definitely, being a different style of music, different genres, having the improv makes it very, very exciting in a different way.

JS. What if it was something you weren't as familiar with as rock music? Let's say it was Polka, or Reggae, or Death Metal? Would you have had the same views?

APPENDIX C (continued)

T1. Maybe for Reggae. I really don't know. Like I really love world music and different styles. I think it doesn't just have to go to the style of music that they are learning, but also, like EYS is with Mark with that whole big personality. And I know he took the time, many times, to call me personally and walk me through the process, kind of hold my hand and get me excited. And I'm not sure that a lot of people, doing a similar large program, would have taken the time to do that. He told me, the most important thing was that I was happy and that my kids have this amazing experience. So he is really invested in that. So I don't know if it was someone offering something similar if it would have been as exciting because I think a lot of it has to come from how he organizes it and his whole view of how this should go, and the future of it, etc., etc.

JS. Describe your views of the EYS program after experiencing it. Did anything change and why?

T1. Yes, I wanted to do it again, I wanted it to be bigger. Bigger and more, like, you know, we started changing things, like all the choreography he did. And I wanted to push my kids even more. Also I didn't like using music stands because we had experiences with music stands disappearing between rehearsals and the concert. So I ended up taking his idea and changed it, so all our concerts with him, everything is memorized. No music stands. There's a lot of choreography, and I teach the kids about showmanship and connecting to audiences, and I think I pull that more from my experience doing Mariachi, where we got to really connect in a personal way. You know, make eye contact with the audience. So I taught that into it. Definitely, bigger and bigger. Every time I do I want some things to be bigger and flashier and what not.

JS. Are you doing anything different in your ensemble after EYS?

T1. I think maybe, as far as doing the improv, I have definitely brought that into my classroom. I have always added over the top stuff, just again, from my experience with Mariachi, doing showmanship with my kids already, but definitely learning more about the confidence and the improv. Absolutely.

JS. Do you anticipate.... I’m sorry. I skipped ahead. Let me go back. What do you believe was the benefit, if any, of doing an EYS event?

APPENDIX C (continued)

T1. I think a huge benefit, because when I first started I had a much smaller program, in a title one school. And again, specifically here, everyone who thinks of anything fun thinks of Mariachi, they don't think about orchestra or anything like that, or they think marching band because of football. So my big thing was that I had to teach the community and get them excited about what the orchestra can do, and start filling seats at my concerts. And so I think EYS was a huge thing that got parents excited because they were always asking when was the next concert. So then the parents were able to go to the concert not because they had to, but go because they knew they were going to enjoy themselves and see a good show.

JS. Do you anticipate doing another EYS?

T1. Yes, we are doing one this year?

JS. How many have you done, and what number will this one be?

T1. Oh goodness. I think this is my sixth one. I think it is the sixth one. And this one, we're going to have...our district has finally bought into it and they are going to pay half of the price for the event, and they are going to provide the venue and the security and the sound guy, all that good stuff. And right now we have like 1200 kids right now who are participating, and we are getting some more, so definitely going from there. My view is that I would eventually love to do it at the AT&T Center, or something similar to that, and include not just our school district, but other school districts. We are still the only ones here that do it.

JS. Would you encourage your colleagues from other schools to participate in an EYS event?

T1. Absolutely. This event...ever since my first one I have pulled another teacher, because it is a lot of work, but I thought also that being individual teachers, as opposed to band teachers, we needed to help each other to grow our programs, and so there is a group of us that have banded together. We have created a non-profit to really help push this initiative in our city, because right now it definitely more Mariachi or it's uber classical, there's no real middle ground. We have talked to teachers in other districts who are also interested, and we would love to hopefully next year to encourage and include other districts and do one big event together.

JS. Describe your EYS workshop for me. How many days, how many concerts? You've done it several times. Let's talk about that first time.

T1. The first time was compared to what we do in the last couple of ones was much more low- key. It was just in our cafeteria. For the run throughs and such. So it was just a one-night kind of thing. Then the concert was like that Saturday. It was a quick run through on stage and that was it.

JS. How many participants that first time?

APPENDIX C (continued)

T1. I only had like maybe 48, maybe 50 kids. The program...I'm sorry I lost my track...It was about 50 of my kids, and the high school...there were two high schools together, had about 60 kids. It was there levels together. Maybe 150 kids total.

JS. What about the last time you did it?

T1. The last time wasn't as many, maybe like 350? We had one year where we had like 550 and one year where we had over 1000 kids and we had multiple concerts. One concert was these five schools and one concert was a different five schools and we included elementary school kids.

JS. So more of a residency?

T1. Yes. So the first time we did it, actually the first two times, it was like his regular EYS program. A two-day program, where he'll come and meet as a huge group and run a big rehearsal and come back and do a dress rehearsal/concert the next day. We just realized that with so many kids, some of the kids weren't getting that personal feedback they could really learn from, so that's when we talked about doing more of a residency where they actually go to each campus. So that's the model we have done since then. We'll hire like two or three of them and they will go to multiple campuses over like three to five days, and then we had one giant dress rehearsal, and then a concert.

JS. And how did the workshop proceed? What did Mark do first, second, thereon?

T1. And you mean the workshops at the campuses or the...

JS. yeah, the campuses.

T1. It depends. I know, because I was a driver one year for them, it depends on which artist, because I know the Artist/Mentors...like Haydn was there one year and one year was Val Vigoda and we have had some other ones there too. I know like Mark, as far as coming in, they will play a little bit, get the kids excited and some of them will talk a little about improv and experiences. I know Mark with my kids wanted to see where we were with the music, so we played for him, and then he would talk about certain things in the music that needed to happen and clean some things up. You know as far as his choreography, but also musically items, like which section is playing what and intonation and etc.

JS. How would you describe your level of comfort with playing rock music?

T1. I definitely have a lot more room to grow and things I would like to do, I just don't have the time you know to put my toe in as far as like pedals and things like that. But, I think I am comfortable in regards to playing music off the page, or picking up some simple things by ear. And fairly comfortable with very simple improvisations using pentatonic scales and things like that. I still haven't experienced going past that, yet.

APPENDIX C (continued)

JS. Ok. How would you describe your level of comfort with teaching rock music?

T1. I would say, pretty good as far as say, high school level to a point. Again, not kids doing improv beyond what I can do myself right now, but as far as stylistically, articulations, bow placement, musical things; I feel very comfortable with that.

JS. Let's go back to that first EYS you did. So try to think about when you were organizing this first EYS, how would you have described your level of comfort with teaching rock music at that point?

T1. No very much. To me it was just learning the music at that point. Now, I know the difference as far as, I tell my kids there's staccato and there's rocker staccato. You know, staccato and bow placement is very different as far as, just thinking about how I play Mariachi, I would approach it in a different way. Bowings, articulations, bow placement. And so now, I am much more comfortable knowing what I want it to sound like. Up till then, it was just them playing notes on the page.

JS. Okay. Describe how you prepared for EYS. Did you use recordings?

T1. Yes.

JS. How so? How did you use those recordings?

T1. I e-mailed them to my kids. And we would play them usually every day. Do the shadow bowings, have them listen to the originals, not just the tracks that were sent to use through Mark's website. And we would do that. A lot of times also, we would also play a long with the track so they would get the style and the feel. I know that a lot of that is written so squarely on the page, it's not really a help, so we do a lot of playing along with the tracks. One time with, one time without, you know things like that.

JS. Okay. You mentioned earlier that you guys don't use stands anymore, that you guys memorize your music. Describe the way you set up your stage. The way the seating works. Do you guys use the traditional U, or have you modified that as well?

APPENDIX C (continued)

T1. No. We have modified that. We have so many kids we just couldn't do it that way. We try, my friend, who is a math teacher, tried using Pythagorean’s theorem to figure out spacing on the stage. That didn't quite work. Our idea was, we *unintelligible* first violins, second violins, viola cello, and because the stage that we are at...we are at a theater downtown actually, so we had all those on the front of the stage, and there was kind of like a lip that was in the back that was, maybe 3 feet higher, higher than the regular stage, and all the bass players will be up there, which is nice because they won't be lost in the back, which is what usually happens. So the bass players, you'll see all of them from pretty much the waist up in the back of the stage. Then we like to do rows. So they aren't just scattered on stage, but there are actual specific rows. I like it to look neat. And then we have had, too, where we stagger each row. Find the windows, so that the parents can, you know, easier for them to see their kid, so that's important also.

JS. Okay. Did you incorporate movement or dance into the preparation process?

T1. Yes, absolutely, yes, yes yes. I'm really big into that. I think it helps them to connect to it in a different way and kind of like, let loose. So what I have done, I came up with my own choreography for most of the stuff and we made videos and sent it out to the other teachers who were doing the concert with us so they could teach the choreography. And I sent those choreography videos also to Mark, so that during the rehearsals at the different campuses, they could brush up on any of those things. And then our dress rehearsal, I would help lead as far as fixing any kind of choreography issues that day.

JS. And that was from the first EYS on?

T1. No the first one was just Mark's choreography, and then the one after that, it was the same thing, whatever he asked the kids to do in the rehearsal, and really encourage kids who...I did encourage kids to move, you know, if you want play on your knees, play on your knees, if you want to do a back bend, do a back bend, you know whatever. But the year after, after the third year, is when we had choreography for every piece.

JS. Before the EYS, what did you want as an outcome.? Or another way, what was your reasoning for doing an EYS?

T1. My big reasoning was I really wanted to grow my program, through getting the kids excited, having them stick with orchestra through middle school and through high school. And then getting the parents, because I was at a place at the middle school where I was at before, where the parents didn't participate. They didn't come to concerts, they didn't volunteer, and I know over the years...by the time I left the middle school, I had an amazing set of parents who, if I asked to donate something, they'd bring something. If I asked them to volunteer, they would come, and our concerts were always, like, packed. So at the high school where I am at now, it is starting that process all over again and getting these kids excited about it and connecting more, because I don't have the same volunteer base from parents, yet. I am trying to get them excited

APPENDIX C (continued)

all over again, but definitely, EYS really helps my parents get excited about what we do in orchestra.

JS. What benefits did you experience or witness during the EYS event itself? Those two days?

T1. I think, I think it always happens too, is maybe not your top player, but you'll see kids who weren't always your top player get really excited and have one of those AH HA moments. At the rehearsal, Mark is really good about finding those kids and pulling them up to the front. I know that I had a teacher, it wasn't her top student, he pulled him to the front and after that moment, their life was changed and they became this great string player because they were so excited about what they were doing. So, within those two days, you see a lot of kids, kind of like, the lights click on. They get excited, they get motivated, and they come back to school and we are working on whatever we are working on; that energy sticks with them.

JS. Was there anything else that you witnessed long term after the EYS? Any other benefits you witnessed long-term?

T1. Oh yes! Rhythmic benefits. Absolutely. I know like when we are doing, here in Texas for UIL, it's all about sight reading and sight reading. So the kids were so much better at sight reading and really internalizing rhythms in a different way because we are playing such syncopated tricky rhythms when it comes to rock and roll, that, going back to very simply and classic rhythms, and they were like, "Oh, I got this." and they are much more confident going into the sight reading room. Much more confident when they play. They really play in a different way. They carry that confidence with them when they are performing. I think also, I felt like my kids, because they were becoming more confident in their music, and they had memorized music, they were taking their eyes off the page more and watching me as a director more, so we could do more musical things in class because I had that attention from them.

JS. What drawbacks did you experience or witness during the EYS itself? Those two days?

T1. Drawbacks, drawbacks. Chaos. Backstage chaos. That was the only thing. It is a lot of kids. It is a lot of kids to corral, like what they say, it is like herding cats. When you have like 500 middle school kids, that's a lot of kids, no matter where you are. And so we have learned over the years from our mistakes, don't order lunch, have the kids bring their own lunch, or how we have kids set up depending on which theater we are at. Some venues were a lot easier to maintain that type of chaos, to contain that chaos than other venues that we had where that was a little trickier. And so, that was the only... that is just a negative for when you have that many kids, no matter what you are doing.

JS. What about after the EYS? Any drawbacks long term?

T1. I don't think so. I don't think I have had any drawbacks long term. No, I don't think so.

APPENDIX C (continued)

JS. What surprised you about EYS that first time?

T1. What surprised me? I think what surprised me was how excited the kids were afterwards, which, it didn't dissipate quickly. They were excited for a long time. And the next year, I know I saw, where it became an expectation on my campus. We did it every year and the kids and the parents looked forward to it. I wasn't sure my first time if that would become like a yearly thing because it was so much work planning it, but after that, seeing how the kids react long term, it was worth all the extra effort.

JS. Describe your average concert season at your school. What type of literature do you perform? What type of rehearsal design? Stuff like that.

T1. We, where I am at now, this is my second year at the high school, and we have a fall concert that we do in the courtyard of our school every year, an outdoor concert. And the theme is different every year. So it's not so much a Halloween theme, the kids vote on it. It was superhero this year. Last year was around the world, so we will just pick music off of that. We also invite our two middle school feeders to come. So the varsity group, we show off for them. We play one big finale piece together. Then we have our winter concert. As long as I have been here that has been our classical cocoa. So we do more classical pieces, so we do *unintelligible*, those type of things. Not too glitz and glam because it is in the cafeteria, so we can sell food. Then we have UIL season her, which is crazy here in Texas. So that has already started, all the way to the first week in March. That is our main focus. That, and solo and ensemble. And then we have our final concert. We are doing that in April so that way I have time from there to prep kids for May, when we have our giant EYS performance.

JS. Okay. How do you do seating in your ensemble?

T1. Sometimes we do rotating seating, and also by test. Determine who is going to sit where. I do both.

JS. Is your ensemble usually teacher directed or is it peer directed?

T1. I would say a little bit of both, especially my upper two ensembles. I like to, when I am teaching, to not give the answer and have them talk to their stand partner about certain things, like "what part of the bow do you think we are going to use for this articulation and why," or "what sort of dynamic marking should be here and why?" And then we will talk about it in class, or I will give them some time to experiment and see what articulation they prefer and have them decide the collective. Not all the time, but I like to encourage that a lot that way if I am not there, they can learn to make their own decisions.

JS. Okay.

APPENDIX C (continued)

T1. And then, of course, my lower class is mostly like freshmen, like those students who are more JV and non-varsity at the middle school, so that is a lot more teacher directed in that class.

JS. Is there a specific story from your EYS, any of them, that you think is relevant to this study that you would like to share?

T1. Let me think. Okay, here is a good one. I had a student when I was teaching at the middle school, and he joined us, he moved from one school district to our district like the beginning of January, and we were having our EYS concert the third week of January. And he was a new kid, it felt kind of awkward, and I told him to come and join us no matter what. And it was so amazing to see him...he changed. He was the kid that pushed my kids. He was on the got in the front, went down on his knees and did a backbend with his head all the way back to the floor during the concert. It was amazing. And then he went off, he was in eighth grade year, so he went off to high school and I didn't see him. When I switched to the high school, which is the feeder of where I used to teach, he had actually dropped out of orchestra, and then he saw that I was there and he reinstated. So he is just that kid that when he is on stage, he's just magical as far as connecting with the music. Just the joy that he feels. Not my top, top player, but at our last EYS performance, he was in the front, and the middle school kids were watching the high school perform, and he performed it so amazingly and was singing to the audience, making eye contact. The joy emanating from him, that at the end of the concert, the kids went to Haydn Vitera to get their instruments signed and then they found my high school student and they wanted him to sign their instruments too and take pictures with him. I thought that was just an amazing thing considering that he was this lost kid, and now on stage he is on fire.

JS. Is there anything else that you would like to add that you think is relevant to this study?

T1. I think, in just regards to EYS, it's not only music that the kids learn from this genre. Because we are letting kids, kind of like, you know, I know they are playing the same notes, but they are finding their own voice and they expressing themselves in a different way I think than just pure classical music. They are able to smile and they are able to have fun. And I find that with my kids that have really done it, the kids that I have had in middle school and now I have them in high school, they gained so much confidence that their interactions with adults, and they can be at a microphone and singing, or do things like that. But I don't think if they hadn't had that EYS experience that they would be nearly that confident, in any way.

JS. Well that was my last question. Thank you so much for participating.

T1. Thank you Jeremy. Good luck on all your paperwork.

Teacher 2

JS. Can you describe your music background for me?

APPENDIX C (continued)

T2. I have, I'm a violinist, I went to school in Potsdam New York. Have a Bachelors from there and I have a Master's from Kent State Ohio. I have been working as an orchestra director for 23 years and started in Intermediate school, taught that level for about 20 years, and now I am teaching the high school for the last 3 years.

JS. Other than listening, what is your experience with popular music?

T2. Try to incorporate it with my students, in the orchestra setting.

JS. Was this before your EYS, or since then?

T2. No, I started before EYS. I started a summer camp where I was trying to do some pop music and movie music, just trying to find things that were fun for kids, and then I was already writing special programs for my students in the fall when we were not in contest time, and one year I wrote one called "School of Rock," and I tried to do all rock music, I wrote a lot of arrangements and I bought pickups for all my violins and cellos and everything and it was sort of a feedback nightmare, and then...but it was fun. And then, I heard about Mark [Wood], I saw a thing in a magazine and decided to hire him to come out and that was like, I don't know, almost ten years ago now that I met and found out about Mark.

JS. Ok.

T2. And now I have a summer camp of my own of just Rock Orchestra here. And then I work with Mark at MWROC [MWROC Music Festival, previously The Mark Wood Rock Orchestra Camp].

JS. I am going to list several ensembles, I would like to know if you have ever participated in them and describe your experience in them briefly. So have you ever participated in a traditional orchestral ensemble?

T2. Yes.

JS. Have you done Solo work?

T2. Not so much, no, usually...No.

JS. ok. Small ensembles?

T2. Yeah, quartets, trios, stuff like that.

JS. Were they self-directed or were they coached?

T2. How does contract work fit in there? I work with a wedding company, so how does that fit?

APPENDIX C (continued)

JS. When you guys rehearse, are you self-directed or is there someone coaching you?

T2. Self-directed, there's no rehearsal.

JS. Have you ever participated in a non-traditional orchestral ensemble?

T2. Yes, at MWROC (MARK WOOD ROCK ORCHESTRA CAMP). Yes

JS. Any of those ensembles that you participated in, were any of them peer directed?

T2. No, no I don't think so. I don't know, are we counting when someone puts together a group at MWROC (MARK WOOD ROCK ORCHESTRA CAMP).

JS. I would consider that being peer directed, it's several teachers all getting together and playing, Yeah, that's peer directed.

T2. Alright.

JS. Before experience an EYS event, what was your view of popular music in the traditional orchestra ensemble? You kind of already answered that a little bit.

T2. I always thought it was important. Before I started doing my own, in my own teaching. Well when I first started, very first started, I was working on my Master's Thesis and I was working at a school that was about 90 percent Hispanic, and at that school I was trying to incorporate some Mariachi and some Tejano music and things like that they would like that culturally important to them. Of course, I didn't know anything about any of that, so that is what I wrote my Master's Thesis on. I think it is important that you know your audience and you incorporate what you know they love because that is what they want to do with their music, so I think that is important. So when I left that school district, it was primarily, I don't know, more Caucasian kids, a more upper class neighborhood, not quite as culturally diverse, so we ended up going a little more poppy and finding the things, the pop music they like. But when I was at the other school it was all about Selena and you know just she was really big back then before she died, so we were trying to put "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom" up there, stuff like that. But anyway, I think it is important to know who your audience is and what they like.

JS. Ok. How did Mark and the EYS program alter that view, if any?

T2. They help me see that I don't know what I thought I knew (laughs). I guess, The EYS program, specifically?

JS. Yeah, specifically, yeah.

T2. I guess on that side of things, it was more like giving the kids a leader, someone to know to follow. It was more about the Star and the special guest, and it gave a whole new level of

APPENDIX C (continued)

excitement to the program. And that doesn't happen real often in the orchestral world where the bands are putting on their marching shows in their fancy costumes, and the same with the choir, with their musicals and things like that. But it doesn't happen very often where the orchestra gets to put themselves in that position where they are trying to put on a whole program with a featured artist and you know the whole drama of it all, and the level of intensity is just through the roof that no one can understand. It is different than just having a concert of rock music of your own. It's not even close to the same thing as when having Mark come out.

JS. What was your first experience with EYS or Mark Wood?

T2. My first experience was with just Mark. I had him come out to my intermediate school. We did 2 shows back to back because we couldn't fit all our parents in one program. It happened to be 2 weeks after we got back from a hurricane. We had been out for many weeks; it was one of our big major ones. We thought we were going to have to cancel the show, but Mark was really gracious and the kids had a great time, and that was our first run with Mark. It was great, we had a great time.

JS. How many EYS programs have you done as a follow up?

T2. Let's see. We Mark, and the next year, was it the next year? We did a whole district wide thing that included all the schools and Mark and his whole band with Laura and Bridgid and Heather. And then a few years after that we had just Bridgid come out. Then a couple other schools in our district had just Mark and Bridgid out on their own, and I sort of just helped, I wasn't involved directly with that, but I helped out. And then when I moved over, and this is only about Mark...I had Barrage come out for something different. I don't know if you know about them?

JS. Yeah, I know who they are.

T2. So I hired them once and it wasn't...They only let you play on the finale, that's it, so you really just hire them to play a show, and then your kids get to play on the finale. So that was a lot of money and a little bit lame, but everybody liked it, they just...it's funny how they didn't see what a different experience that was. But you know, Texas and fiddling, what are you going to do?

JS. Yeah.

T2. So, you got to know your audience and put a little of something that everybody loves. But then I had Hayden some out to my new high school. Most of the kids at my high school had Mark come out just a few years ago, so they knew about Mark, but I thought we would bring Haydn out, just some new talent and a different name, also the Hispanic...the Latin rock stuff that he does, I thought that was a pretty cool thing to bring out to my students. I am hoping to have...my plans, in my head, I can't afford him next year, but maybe the following year I'll bring

APPENDIX C (continued)

Mark out. Hopefully. And come to think of it, I had Laura come out last year with Haydn, so the choir was able to sing with us a little bit and have a good time.

JS. Oh, good. Describe your views of the EYS program before your first experience. So, what excited you about the program and why, and what made you uneasy about the program and why?

T2. Well, the first thing is money, that is the first thing that make you uneasy as a teacher. You know you have scrubbed together every candy bar you can sell to make things happen, so the first thing is can you even come up with a budget to make it happen. And that's a lot of money to sign your name to, to get started. So that was my first concern. But then everything about having all the music memorized and then you know, Mark has to have an assistant and my respect for him and all he's done, I was really, really nervous to have him out the first time. It was just, sort of just out of, well it was completely out of my element! I had never invited anybody in like that. The contracts with the school district, the purchase orders. I mean they could find so many ways to screw things up and make stuff hard. And now you need a sound tech guy. Ok, well nobody in the district will do that for you, so who are you going to hire? And now, are they on the vendor list? Oh they're not on the vendor list, ok, so now you have to figure out how to hire them, they have to go through their fingerprinting, I mean it is just, it is just a lot of....

JS. Logistics?

T2. Just the logistic part of it can be a real challenge and usually it stems from purchasing and they're difficult. It is difficult to add vendors, the fingerprinting, the rules, the know the time it takes to add a vendor. It just...I know this last time with Haydn coming out, we started the contract in the spring of the following year, he wasn't going to come out until October, and the school year started and they (School District Purchasing) wanted to start the process all over again and they were wanting deposits, Mark Wood Productions needed some deposits and our...I can't even tell you how painful my school district made it. It was just ridiculously difficult to get just the paper work started again. "Oh, that was last year's contract we got to start all over again." Why? We already promised that we were going to do this, and now you're going to drag another month’s worth of whatever desk it has to go across. I can't even begin; I can't explain the process. It doesn't make sense to me. Apparently it makes sense to somebody, so that's the way it has to be. So yeah, that part, I have to say, the intermediate partner that I worked with was so upset by the whole process that she was saying that she would never do it again. Of course she will, but she was pretty upset about how hard it was. You had to follow every single day, "well, what are we doing now." and nobody has time for that, you know.

JS. Yeah.

APPENDIX C (continued)

T2. And it's not, it is definitely not Mark Wood, or any other vendor or company that is the problem, it is within the school district that, it's just ridiculous. I can't figure it out. Anyway...you asked. That's what I got, that's the hard part for me.

JS. Other than the vendor, all the paper work stuff on the school end, did you find that subsequent years went smoother because you knew what was going on, because you had done it before, or was it just as intimidating?

T2. Okay, the part about working with them, it is smoother every time, of course. I have a relationship with them where I am not as afraid to ask questions or put suggestions out there, or change things a little bit now, and I know they will be totally cool with it, just understanding them a little better compared to being really nervous about him coming out the first time you know. So all that is better, you knowing how the music works and choices and stuff, the rules are harder. The school district is harder every year. I am not even kidding.

JS. I am sorry.

T2. I don't even know how we were able to hire the whole band that second year they came out. We were able to do it, to have the whole district be a part of it, every school was a part of their little chunk of money and we all sold tickets and somehow it all worked and I don't know if we could ever do that again, honestly. I don't know if it would be feasible, I have no idea, but we'll see. You know what, here is an example. I had on the calendar that we were going to do this rock concert last October with Haydn. Because of the way my department head had put it on the calendar, he called it rock camp which annoyed the heck out of me because there is a rock camp that's not mine at our school over the summer, but a guitar thing, a guitar camp or whatever. He puts it rock camp to reserve the dates for me, and then the school district starts trying to charge me as if it's an outside vendor coming in. It was like sixty dollars an hour, plus custodian, plus this and that. I was like, "this is my event, I am a teacher at this school, Oh my God." I mean...

JS. Wow!

T2. I am telling you, it is insane. I don't know where you want to stick all that in your thesis, but I know where I want to stick it all!

JS. Let's move on. Would your views have been different if it had been a traditional European classical program? Going into it.

T2. My views? going into it? Well, I don't know. It just really depends on who it is coming in. Because I have also taken kids to work with the symphony and that's really nerve racking. I mean, any time you want to play at a really high standard for someone you respect, I tend to get a little high maintenance in those scenarios, you know, just wanting everything to be as it should be. You know. And cleaning up all the details is important to me, so I don't know. It just

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completely depends. If it was my own concert, classical music, I would want it to sound good. If it was with a vendor and you're selling tickets and things, you have to have an expectation of really high quality, you know if you’re going to go that route. I don't know if that answers your question, but...

JS. Just a quick follow up. And, you have already done mariachi, so that's something you're already familiar with, but what if it was a type of music that wasn't traditional classical, or classic rock? Something like reggae, or punk music, or something you weren’t familiar with as much. Would you have been as willing to do it. Or would that have made you more nervous or more comfortable?

T2. No, new stuff is always hard to wrap your mind around. No, there's plenty of new things that are.... No that's harder. I don't just flow into a new easy old...what am I trying to say? Brand new things that I am not quite sure about, I mean that would be...that definitely put's me on edge, you know? Something totally unfamiliar, and then you got to be able to translate it to the kids in a teachable way, and you're not even sure about it. That's a hard thing for anyone.

JS. I agree. Describe your views of the EYS program after experiencing it. Did anything change, and why?

T2. Did anything change? No, I just keep having them out. I like...I have been trying to keep things a little bit new as far as inviting different people out. I do think that is important, that...I think that some of my students have felt that the rock think was just a Mark Wood thing only, so that is one of the reasons I thought it was important to bring other people out to the school, so they can see it is really, a viable way to make music, you know, you don't have to just be in the jazz world or rock band world, you don't have to be a guitarist to fit into these places. I have a student that plays at, he is competing at the rodeo this year as a fiddle player so I think it is important. To me it still has to be variety. I think that is important. I like that they have expanded their artists and there are multiple ideas and people with different styles to bring in, so everyone has something different to offer when they come visit. So I think that is really, really important.

JS. Are you doing anything different in your ensembles since your first EYS?

T2. No, I don't think so other than. Well, I just try to do those more often, the EYS programs. Our year is pretty well laid out as far as contest season, solo and ensemble time, musical time, it's, the way our year fits together is pretty solid. All state time, region time, and then it’s fun time EYS time. I don't know. I think it is important to put it in because we are serious a lot, we are competition based a lot, so I like to put it in so we just have some fun time.

JS. What do you believe was the benefit, if any, of doing an EYS event?

T2. The benefit.... hold on a sec. Say that again.

APPENDIX C (continued)

JS. What do you believe was the benefit, if any, of doing an EYS event?

T2. The benefit, I think, the first time and especially the second time we did it was, we had principals and board members and things come to our concert and that had never happened before, it really wasn't...you know... we were just the orchestra. People will go to the football games, so they see the band, or the choir sing the Star Spangled Banner, but they weren't ever seeing the orchestra. And I thought it brought a whole level of enjoyment to people that who don't understand classical music anyway. So it brought music to the masses sort t of. Parents that don't even understand what their kids are doing, they're the ones that really, really enjoyed it. I know that because I heard from them. They just thought, " Oh my gosh, I can't believe you all do that." but never heard that about the classical concerts.

JS. You already answered number 10, which is, do you anticipate doing another EYS event? And it sounds like you're already in the process, so we will move on to 11. Would you encourage your colleagues from other schools to participate in an EYS event?

T2. Oh yeah, Yes, yes I do.

JS. Can you describe your EYS workshop? How many days, how many concerts? How many student participants?

T2. Well, when this last time for the high school I only had about 140 students participate in it, but that was with Haydn. We only did one concert. He was there, he and Laura were there, they came on 1 day, stayed with the kids all day to rehearse and then the next day they reviewed a little bit and they had the concert that night. I think that is right. And I also had my feeder program. They also did a concert with Haydn. He did, that's right, he visited them first, did they do the concert all the same night? I think they did it all, rehearsal during the day and concert that night. And then the next day Haydn was with me, but had the night off, and then had the concert the next day. He was with us for a total of three days, I think that's right. And then Laura came in on just my concert, she wasn't with the intermediate kids, so gosh, so I think the intermediate school had 150 kids, so there were 150 kids on Haydn's concert on like what was it Monday night? And then on my concert on Wednesday, there were another 140 kids and all their parents. It was a good number of people over that week. So that was my most recent one.

JS. Can you describe your district one that you did? How many schools, approximately how many students?

T2. I am going to say we had 4 high schools, 9 maybe intermediate schools, and then about 1200 students perform at that one.

JS. Was that just one concert?

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T2. Yeah, it was all in one concert. I think we had about 5000 in the audience, something like that. Huge

JS. So that was a residency. How long was it, the residency?

T2. That was an entire week, so Mark and, so Bridgid would go the first day and prepare the kids and then Mark would do an assembly and another rehearsal with them. So it was sort of like hop scotch, and they would go around and see everybody. And then we bussed all the kids for a mass rehearsal for the concert. It was a whole day event of rehearsals and then the next, I guess it was a Friday rehearsal day, and then Saturday more rehearsal and concert in the afternoon I think. I think that is how we did it. I don't know, I would have to go back and check my notes. But it was a full week of them hop scotching through all the schools, so we made sure everybody had to rehearse during the day. So they all got meet Mark at their schools instead of just being in that massive setting. That's how we did that.

JS. For your initial EYS with Mark, can you describe his first day process with the kids? Briefly, what does he do first, second, kind of the Mark Wood process for the first day of rehearsal.

T2. Well I think, let me think how that goes. He likes the kids to listen a little bit. He will have call and response kind of thing and then just for a short amount of time to get them warmed up, joke around with them for a little bit. Then he will hit one of the pieces and he'll try to pick out some kids to come up to the front, some kids that are really showing some extra energy, and he'll get to know them a little and work with them, and then start talking about choreography through the music, not major stuff, but what can they do to put some moves in there I guess. But it just kind of, let’s see, I am pretty sure we start...because I would have like three different groups of music depending on their age and ability level so I would basically rotate the kids through the day and then somehow converge them all for the grand finale to work that through too.

JS. So you don't have, let's say, all 140 kids on stage at the same time, you've got different levels, so kids are rotating on songs.

T2. I have different levels until the finale, but usually we'll practice that at the very end. I don't ever want to start them with that many kids. I don't want....

JS. How would you describe your level of comfort with playing rock music?

T2. My level of comfort? I would say it is better than it used to be in a big way. I have a viper now. I have 2 electric violins actually. I play with the praise band at church and I work with Mark Wood camp in the summer. And I am still kind of lame when it comes to trusting my ear and just improvising. I am still pretty paper trained but I am much, much better than I used to be. Before all this I didn't trust myself at all. There was just no way it was going to ever happen.

APPENDIX C (continued)

JS. How would you describe your level of comfort with teaching rock music?

T2. It's fine. I understand breaking down pop music for the kids. I can teach them by ear, I can get their chord structure going and show them the bass line of a song and getting them to work out their own melodic lines or harmony parts or whatever. I have come a long way on that.

JS. Describe how you prepared for your EYS. Did you use recordings, and if so how did you use them?

T2. Yes, we used recordings. We used the music that was sent, seems like we would start without the recordings, try to get their fingers around things a little bit, of course, they know the songs for the most part. Play the original for them. We were able to slow down the tempos too, now that I think of it, somehow. I didn't do that too much with the high school, mainly I was just pushing them to work harder. I would just turn it on and blast them out. It is a really different approach. We would slow down and work out sections that we would need to but mostly I just tried to push the kids like crazy, probably with the recordings more than anything.

JS. So you use them as reference and as play-a-long tracks?

T2. Yeah

JS. What type of seating did you use? Did you use a traditional orchestral seating, or did you modify for the EYS event?

T2. The last EYS I had all the kids standing on platform risers, more like risers that our show choir uses, so there is some depth to them and we had microphones hanging over their head, so they were all standing, but the high school kids didn’t have their stuff memorized, so they had music stands they were sharing, but they were all standing in that concert.

JS. Did you incorporate movement or dance into the preparation process?

T2. I did to some extent. It depends on what group we were talking about because some of the groups were more open to that than others, some of the kids, there were some students that were more rigid and just not into the experience at all, very uncomfortable with it, it just took them too far out of the box, and they enjoy their box they are in, so those kids had a little harder time with them. It is not necessarily true, but they were sort of my top performing kids, they were worried about being embarrassed and they like the sort of haughty taughty thing of the orchestra, they like that personality and they like that, what they grab hold of and what they are working on. So the classical orchestra is really, really important for their personality and when I gave this to them, they had trouble with it. But the other groups, the more kids that 1) they are more interested also in theater, just more open, more extroverted or whatever. They were more willing to move and have a good time, and just relax a little bit. But I did work it out, I did try to get

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those other kids that didn't want to move and stuff, some of them actually did and they were able to do a little back to back, so I was able to get a little out of them, and just takes some time.

JS. Who directed the student learning in the rehearsals prior to Mark's arrival?

T2. Me

JS. Before the EYS, what did you want as an outcome? Or another way, what was your reasoning for doing an EYS?

T2. I wanted to do the EYS for a whole new level of experience. For the kids to meet somebody that was famous and is a creator, an artist, someone that breaks the mold and is inventing things and just that was sort of the primary purpose of that. Because to me, you can play rock music with your kids, you can just do that without having an artist there, but, so to me that is the point. To have someone that has a different perspective, because they (the kids) listen to their teacher everyday like they do to a guest. I think of it as a gift to the kids. Some orchestras and bands will take their kids on giant trips and things, but it is usually not all the kids that go. So I took a group to Orlando last year and it was, how many did I have? I think I had 60 or so go out of 140 kids. I think this is a way to bring artists in to touch your whole program, to impact your whole program compared to all the money spent on those giant trips. Still trying to convince some of my friends with that.

JS. I understand. We'll talk sometime, separate from this. What benefits did you experience or witness during the EYS, during the actual event?

T2. What was the first part?

JS. What benefits did you experience or witness during the actual EYS event?

T2. The kids just let go and enjoyed it. I think for them it's something that is more, it's related to. In some ways, some of the parts may be easier because it might just be part of a chord progression at that part of the song, so it's not the most challenging run, or something in their particular part, so they can let their guard down, and it's the language they speak, so I don't know. I think the benefit is they get to do something that is already part of their everyday. They get to learn how their instrument is more relevant than they think?

JS. What about after the EYS. What benefits did you experience or witness after the EYS?

T2. Afterwards, I guess, while they had a really good time, I haven't been able to start a Rock Orchestra outside of class. I am going to actually try that this semester because I am still sort of new at this school, it's my third year. I did my first EYS last year with them. Some of them really enjoyed it, some of them were still not sure that they wanted to allow it. I have some kids

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really interested in that, and they have been asking, not a lot of them, but I still have a few asking when we are going to do it again, so there is still that, you know they are looking forward to it, the ones that are actually talking to me about anything for that matter. I don't know, it seems like once you get a break like that, they are ready to go onto challenge in other ways, to go to other things

JS. What drawbacks did you experience or witness during the event?

T2. I don't know. I wouldn’t say it was drawbacks. I think it had kind of the same effect that any program can have. You know, I did a Tchaikovsky nutcracker Christmas concert last year and some people really love it and some people really just wanted traditional Christmas songs. Like they wanted frosty the snowman and goofy stuff. So some people really loved it and some people just missed the regular traditional things, you know Rudolph and whatever. I think I find that with every concert, some people just really relate and grab hold of something and others are just, "ahhh" and go onto the next thing. I think your question is a little tricky for me.

JS. What surprised you about the EYS event, the very first time?

T2. I guess the very first time I didn't know how lost I was going to get into it, how deep I would get into it, and how impactful I would end up spending my whole life, these last few years anyway deeply involved in the program. I didn't know that was going to happen.

JS. Describe your average concert season. What type of literature do you play, typically what is your rehearsal design, stuff like that?

T2. Okay, so this year started with Halloween concert. We did, everything was, well actually, everything was classical, but Halloween music. Like Night on Bald Mountain and things like that, but the kids dressed like zombies and they had a good time just being a little crazy, but I also wanted it not like Scooby doo themes and stuff like that, but I wanted to give them a real classical vibe, but show them the scary music which I think they really enjoyed. We found some things like Edgar Allan Poe stuff, based on that. So anyway, this year, I usually think of something a little lighter for our first concert because we are also in the middle of region and all state preparation, like individual kids competitions, so I try to keep our programming a little more fun in that way, While that is happening, my top group is supposed to be preparing for honor orchestra auditions for the year, so that is sort of also happening during all that, so I try to find a way to keep it light while this heavier literature is going on. But, in November I did a Giving Bach concert which was all classical and that would have been our recording concert for the Honor orchestra, so we did some pretty tough stuff with our top, top group. Christmas is all holiday poppy type of stuff like Polar Express and that is when our full orchestra is all together at that point because marching season is over, and we have about a 90-piece full orchestra in addition to the four other orchestras we have. Then, we are about to start January, which is our solo and ensemble time, so every kid has a solo. I have been trying to get all those entries

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in. Musical is starting up. We are doing the Addams Family, which is great. It isn't all of our kids of course, but there is a small string section within the group and I conduct that. March and April is all about our State Contest, so UIL contest for our orchestras. Then April we go to for a trip, and then May, Oh I Forgot the concerto competition that puts the Seniors in the final concert for a concert, maybe, if they're doing enough and prepared, we will have our full orchestras play as well as our other kids. I try to do a little more poppy fun spring stuff in our May concert if there is time. It's just hard to say. Sometime state testing takes them out of class some much it is hard to pull together one more concert for the last bit. So pretty much the only time I can work in an EYS is in the Fall. It's got to be my first concert, like in October when I can get an EYS, or any other fun type program.

JS. Is there a specific story from your EYS, or any of your EYS's for that matter that you think is relevant to this study that you would like to share?

T2. Let’s see. Well, that's relevant to the study? Hmm Other than everything I have already said? I don't know if I can think of anything different than what I have already mentioned. I guess I could say that it does become like a fever for some students. They really just want it, they want to do the program again, they want to go with the electric stuff or they just, theirs eyes totally open in a whole new way. They love it, for some kids. Other ones really enjoy, and their parents are all supportive of it, thank goodness because they're the ones that put together donations and fundraisers and things like that to make it happen, but I think, I have always felt that the parents love it more than the kids. It is so funny. I mean the kids love it and they enjoy it, but I get way more feedback, better feedback from the parents that just enjoy the show so much. It is probably because of the classic rock thing, you know, bring that, their whatever memory, but I don't know. I think it is a real program builder. I think we should dream for bigger things to do with orchestra because I think most orchestra directors are completely boring and it's just too bad they have no imagination.

JS. Last question. Is there anything else that you would like to add that you think is relevant to the study?

T2. That's it.

JS. Thank you so much for participating.

Teacher 3

JS. Describe your music background.

T3. I come from a musical family. I was always part of musical events. Started playing the drums in first grade, became the sole percussionist for our youth orchestra in second grade and

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also third grade. I began violin in third grade after my brother quit, and played drums and violin during third grade and then had to make a decision of one. So I continued with violin solely up through high school. Went to University, studied music education with an emphasis on violin, and then I taught public school. Elementary music for six and a half years and then I switched over to orchestra. I taught elementary through high school, I was my own feeder, for seven years, then I went to graduate school for my Master's. Then I taught at university as their interim visiting professor, and then I am now completing my doctorate at Florida State.

JS. Would you consider violin as your primary instrument now?

T3. Yes.

JS. You described where you studied. Was there anyone in particular that you studied with that you would like to mention?

T3. Sure. During my formative years of violin playing I studied with Dr. Craig Evans who is now in New York at the collegiate level. He does fundraising and things for the school. And then at university I studied with Dr. Albero Gomez.

JS. Other than listening, what is your experience with popular music?

T3. Up until I met Mark Wood, none really.

JS. Okay. I am going to list several ensembles. If you've participated in one of these, describe how you participated. Have you participated in a traditional orchestral ensemble?

T3. Yes. I was a section leader and a section player.

JS. Have you done solo work?

T3. I have.

JS. Was that solo work self-directed or was it in the Master/Apprentice model?

T3. Both.

JS. Okay. Did you participate in small ensembles?

T3. I did. I did anywhere from duets to trio, quartets, quintets, up through chamber orchestra that was led by a conductor and chamber ensembles that were self-directed, they taught us how to truly play as a chamber ensemble.

JS. Was that ensemble self-directed or was it coached?

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T3. Both. Chamber orchestra was directed; small chamber ensembles – some were coached and led to being self-directed.

JS. Have you participated in any non-traditional orchestral ensemble?

T3. I did. I participated in a Scottish ensemble and also a rock ensemble, and that was at the graduate level.

JS. Were any of those peer-directed?

T3. Both of those were.

JS. Before experiencing an EYS event, what was your view of popular music in the traditional orchestral ensemble?

T3. I was against it, because I had only seen things where students had demonstrated poor playing technique, both posture and technically. So the emphasis was more on that the students were playing non-traditional music rather than emphasizing that they had good technique, good intonation and such, along with playing different genres of music.

JS. How did Mark and the EYS program alter that view, if any?

T3. Because he focused on playing with correct posture, intonation, technique/skill. He always talked to the students about having good posture. They always had to play with good intonation. He strongly emphasized style. But also incorporated music. So he took what I was super passionate about, which was strong fundamentals, and then incorporated it into rock music and other genres.

JS. Okay. What was your first experience with Electrify Your Strings, or Mark Wood?

T3. I was inquiring, I believe this was back in 2011, of doing a Christmas parade and wanted to perform like the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and wanted to have some electric instruments. So a friend of mine is friends with Mark and my friend gave me Marks phone number. So I contacted him and he willingly lent me his instruments and then introduced me to Electrify Your Strings, said he would love to come work with my kids. Of course I was excited, because after having the electric instruments that he let me borrow for the Christmas parade, the reception from the kids, the families, the audience was spectacular. So when I brought him in the students were very excited. And he was just very nurturing because obviously the kids were used to traditional orchestra. They weren't used to moving because I wasn't used to it. You know, it wasn't something that I was trained in. So he was just very down to earth, very nurturing, and quickly got them out of their classical, traditional box.

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JS. Okay, that kind of encompassed my fourth question also. So we will move on to question five. Describe your views of the EYS program before your first experience.

T3. I would say, before talking to Mark Wood, I didn't know that it existed. but as we were preparing for it, I was quite nervous, not know what to expect. I had never seen one, so my total focus was I had the kids technically prepared so that the music was not an issue and he could do whatever he could musically with them, which is why I think they gained a lot during that experience and were able to grow, not only musically, but they were truly able to have different experiences with music and do whatever he asked.

JS. Okay. You discussed some things that made you uneasy before your first one. Was there anything that excited you about the program beforehand.

T3. Really, the unknown. What made me uneasy is also what made me excited, because, for me, getting outside my box. So I was excited, yet nervous at the same time, if that makes any sense. It was just, you know, I have never been great at improv because I was never taught. So, I don't know, basically, what made me nervous also made me excited.

JS. Would your views of the program have been different if it had been a traditional European classical program you were bringing in?

T3. I don't think I would have been as excited. Well, I would have been excited, however, I knew it was time for my program to have something different because I was sort of struggling with retention and recruiting because the fact that my students were getting older, my high school students were finding other things that were interesting to them. So I was interested in bring this new thing and seeing how it excited the students for our winter parade. I was interested to see what it would do from then on. What's interesting, my retention numbers were phenomenal. My students who said they were quitting because they wanted to do swimming or track, that didn't think they could do both actually stayed in and brought in some of their friends. So not only did they stay in orchestra, but they brought others to it.

JS. So was it intended to be a hook, or more of an evolution of the orchestra?

T3. An evolution of the orchestra. But also, I would say, evolution. I wanted to give them other experiences because I realized, I mean my students loved classical music and everything that we were playing, but when I could see that they were able to connect to the music because it was what really excited them internally, it was just something magical that happened. It was no longer convincing them to practice, but they actually started going out and finding pieced that they enjoyed and sort of learning them by ear. Did that answer your question?

JS. Yes, yes. What if it was Mariachi, or Reggae, or Metal? Something that you weren't as familiar with as you were rock music?

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T3. I would still be interested because my classes when I started the EYS's, I had students of Latin descent that were used to Mariachi, so it would have definitely...well, in the area that I lived in had tons of Latin culture. So I think that could have even brought more. I can't say that I know what death metal is, except extremely hard rock, but ever since EYS I have been more open to other things outside my little bubble.

JS. Okay. Describe your views of the EYS program after experiencing it. Did anything change and why?

T3. I would say the biggest thing that changed was my 100% belief in the program and I promote it to everybody. There have been people that have come up to me that had others tell them very negative things about EYS and Mark and I was able to share with them my experiences and what, how he worked with my students and what happened as a result of our experience. Some of my friends, it was actually two years ago when this happened, some of it's very negative, and I shared these experiences with him. They actually went and spoke with Mark at the ASTA conference and then booked a large event with five or six schools combining. So I would say it really has changed my belief and I'm unwavering toward my dedication and belief in the program. I don't know. I would just say it has changed my belief and also how I teach. I know this is a little off, but going to the MWROC (MARK WOOD ROCK ORCHESTRA CAMP) Camp, watching how they teach has helped me understand how to implement it in my classroom better.

JS. That's wonderful. That leads me into my next question. Are you doing anything different in your ensembles after EYS?

T3. Yes. The way I teach, the way I break things down. We do a lot more, just different teaching styles, I should say, rather than it just being large group all the time, I break it down into smaller groups, we do a lot of listening, a lot of shedding to work on improv. And then we are bringing in of course, rock music. Next year I am actually starting a rock orchestra, electric orchestra. So, it's actually changing the whole environment at the high school.

JS. Okay. What do you believe was the benefit, if any, of doing an EYS event?

T3. I would say, on the student’s aspect, it gave them, watching Mark and this past year I brought in Hayden, giving them somebody to look to. It helped that they were a male, and it's okay to get outside of the classical box. They showed the students that they have the actual skill and technique. It gave them options on how to explore other things. I had students that struggle with being in orchestra and they're called dorks and other things, and they're uncool by some of the friends. But working with Mark and Hayden made them internally realize that it doesn't matter what their friends say, they know different. And it gave them a new model to look up to.

JS. Do you anticipate doing another EYS?

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T3. Yes. I will either be doing one this coming year, or the following.

JS. Okay. Would you encourage your colleagues from other schools to participate in an EYS event? You've kind of already answered that one

T3. Yes. I tried to get a group of my colleagues this past year, but it did not work out. And when I mentioned this to a community member, she asked if we could get the youth orchestra and some of their groups participate, so, my end goal is that not only do we get all the local schools, but we get the youth orchestra and the university orchestra involved.

JS. Oh wow. Describe your EYS program and workshop. How many days, how many concerts? Let's discuss the first one with Mark.

T3. Okay, the first one with Mark was a two-day workshop, and then a concert. I actually had two of them with him. When I did my first two with Mark, they were also with choir, so I brought in Laura and Elijah. Each time in the orchestra we had anywhere between 38 to 45 kids participate. Then the show choir had, I'm guessing, 20 to 25. And then the program with Haydn was just the orchestra. And we had a one-day event, so we had the one-day workshop and then he did a concert at the end that evening, and that's because financially the parents were not going to be able to do it if we did a two-day workshop, just for cost basis.

JS. Okay. And how many student participants with the one with Haydn?

T3. Twenty-five.

JS. Okay. Let's discuss Mark's workshop. How did the workshop proceed? What did Mark do first with the kids, second, how did it go from there?

T3. First, well, obviously everything was all set up. He did a sound check, but then he tuned the orchestras. He gave them a tuning note and was very specific on how precise they were with their tuning, went around. Then he did some bow stroke exercises. We did scales, which I was very happy he did not rush through them, but he really emphasized the importance of scales. Once they had the scales, then he incorporated movement. He systematically did it where he sequenced it. He first had them standing up, bending up and down, then he would have them moving left to right, then you know, actually moving their feet. So he got them to where they were comfortable moving with the scale. Then we went from our easiest pieces to the most difficult, playing through each piece, just to get through it. We worked on anything that needed to be fixed and then he incorporated movement with each piece. We also had a Q&A with him. I believe it was the second day for both of the workshops with Mark. Then the performance.

JS. Can we discuss warm ups; I'm going off on a little tangent here. Did he use any technology, or was it warm ups you would see in the traditional orchestra?

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T3. He used the drum loops. And if I am remembering correctly, there were, I believe when he had the drum loops there was also a harmonic background as well. So the kids were hearing the harmonic progression as there was a cool rhythmic drum loop that they were playing with.

JS. How would you describe your level of comfort with playing rock music?

T3. I feel comfortable at this point. I feel very comfortable if I am playing with music. I am still, just because of how much time I am spending working on my degree and I don't have a whole lot of practice time, I'm not as comfortable as I would like to be aurally, you know, just picking things out. But I truly believe that when I finish my degree and I'm actually teaching a class in the summer preparing for it, I'll have time to really start developing skills and using them more. But I listen to it probably 90% of the time when I am listening to music.

JS. Okay. How would you describe your level of comfort with teaching rock music?

T3. I'm comfortable, but I'm always questioning myself. Whether I'm doing it right, or whether I'm being effective. I would say, probably 50/50.

JS. Okay. Describe how you prepared for your Electrify Your Strings event in advance.

T3. I printed out all the music for the kids. Before I gave them the music I sent out the audio tracks so they could listen to it and get it in their ear. And then it was probably a week later, I gave them the music and of course, Mark lays out how he would like us to prepare the music. So they had already become acquainted with the music, plus I played it as they were entering the classroom every day. But they were instructed that they needed to listen to it and look through the music so they were seeing what they were hearing. Then they played along, but we had an app in etunes so that they could actually slow it down and play with it at the speed they were comfortable with. Then we progressively sped it up until it was performance tempo. Always playing with the recording that Mark gave us.

JS. Okay. What type of seating did you use?

T3. Well, I do not seat based on ability, so I just have the kids mingled. I have a strong player with a weaker, you know someone with less skill or less experience. I just constantly move them throughout. I keep them in the same section, but just change where they sit all the time.

JS. Okay. What about the set-up of the chairs physically? Did you use a traditional set-up with the "U" or did you modify that for EYS?

T3. It was modified. It was exactly like it is for our MWROC (MARK WOOD ROCK ORCHESTRA CAMP).

JS. Can you describe that for me please?

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T3. Sure. So the chairs are facing forward, this was for my first concert, the chairs were facing forward. Violin 1 or A was on the far left, and Violin B or Violin 2 was next to them on the right. And this is in the audience looking at the orchestra. In the center was Mark and behind him was Elijah. To the right of them were the violas and then cellos. So that was a little bit different. I kept the violins together on one side and viola, cello together on the other. Bass were behind, but they also, at different times, came up in front. We had soloists up front. We had different soloist for each piece. And, I believe that's it. For the second time I had Mark, we did not have any chairs. The kids were standing the entire time. They still had music stands. The same thing for Haydn. I actually had them set up in an arc just because I had so few, and our stage was huge. To fill up the space and make it look not like it was empty, I just put them in an arc and had them in windows, in the two rows.

JS. Okay, thank you. Did you incorporate movement or dance into the preparation process?

T3. The first time I did not, because I did not know what to expect. It was really just learning the music and it was much more a traditional preparation, because I had no clue what to expect. The second time I had Mark there were lots of movement, they were never sitting down. I had them walking around to the beat so they could get the feeling of being away from the music and the same way when I had Haydn come in. There was no sitting down, I had them up and moving.

JS. And who directed the student learning in the rehearsals?

T3. Most of the time I did, but at least once a week, and sometimes twice a week, I would break off in sectionals. The sectionals would either last the entire period depending on what we needed to work on, or we would start out in sectionals and then come back together. They would have a designated assignment of what they needed to work on. When it was sectionals it was student led, and then I went around and monitored to make sure they were hitting the spots that needed to be fixed. When it was group led, I led, but also brought kids up, I would just randomly pick kids to come up and play the electric instruments that I have.

JS. Okay. Before the EYS, what did you want as an outcome? Or another way, what was your reasoning for doing an EYS?

T3. For the first one, I wanted to give them another experience and an opportunity to work with somebody that was a master at rock music and this sort of thing. Mark's definitely a master at what he does. And I wanted them to have that experience and to be able to learn skills from somebody that has skills that I do not have. Or maybe I have them, but you know, their skills I have never been taught, or nurtured. For myself, I wanted to learn another way of teaching, another way to reach my kids, because I know that I can be very much in a box, and very structured, so I was interested in learning another way to reach out to the kids because they were much more tech savvy and I should say, free spirits.

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JS. What benefits did you experience or witness during the EYS event? During those two days, or the one-day workshop with Haydn?

T3. I felt that my students started making more eye contact, looking at the music less. I knew they had the music learned, but they really started playing from their heart rather than playing notes on the page and interacting with each other. When they realized that Mark was looking for the people, you know he was picking people to come up and it was always those that were the most confident or outgoing, that others started demonstrating that. It wasn't a bad competitive, but they were wanting special time with Mark, to be up front with him.

JS. Okay, what about after the EYS event was completed. Mark had left. Were there any benefits that you experienced or witnessed?

T3. My students were on their own just going out and finding the music. They were trying to imitate how Mark would move, how Mark would play. So he really became such a major role model to them and they started listening to music and trying to play with it. Some of them had never heard before. I don't know, is that about what you're, what you want?

JS. Yeah. What drawbacks did you experience or witness during the EYS event itself? The two days?

T3. None, absolutely none.

JS. What about after the EYS was completed and Mark was gone?

T3. What drawbacks?

JS. Yeah, did you experience any drawbacks after the event was complete down the road?

T3. No. They just couldn't wait for me to bring him back again.

JS. Okay. What surprised you about the EYS the first time?

T3. How personable Mark, Laura and Elijah were. I was definitely star-struck and I don't know if other people feel this way, but, you just have an image, at least I had this image of, "he's this elite player, he's done all this stuff. I'm just this little orchestra teacher and Podunk county." But he was so personable and went up and got to know the kids and really had a genuine interest in their learning. And my kids, and I believe that's why my kids responded so well, because they could sense it. That's something all of them made mention of and I had a parent assistants helping me out. They were all quite impressed, with just the genuine down to earth nature of Mark, Laura and Elijah.

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JS. Describe your average concert season. What type of literature do you perform typically and what is your rehearsal design?

T3. I perform things all the way from Baroque through modern, new composers. We have a fall concert, a winter concert, our music performance assessment. Some people call it festival. It's where we are adjudicated by three judges on stage and then have a sight reading. Then we have a spring concert. I am going to talk about my previous program because right now I only have a small program while I am doing my doctorate. But my previous program I also had, within my first couple of years, I had a few quartets. And as my time there went on we had more quartets and quintets, and we would often get calls for the kids to go out and perform at a library performance or a school event for the district. The superintendent often called me and asked if I had a quartet or quintet that could go play at a certain event that she had going on. So, the kids were called out a lot for gigs. Then they started booking their own weddings and gigs like that and making money, which was great because it was no longer something for me, but something for them and the learned how to be entrepreneurs and really put themselves out there with business cards and such. And then we performed for the school. We had school wide lunches where lunch was an hour, so every so often we would go out, maybe take a quartet, sometimes we would take the whole orchestra and we would perform out in the amphitheater area.

JS. Okay. Is there a specific story from your EYS that you think is relevant to this study that you would like to share?

T3. Well, I have one from my first. The major thing that happened for my orchestra and I think I referred to it earlier, is just that, there are so many things pulling at kids today. So many different ways they can spend their time, whether it be in soccer or whatever sport or club. Once they experienced the EYS, I had several of the students, their parents bought them an electric instrument, whether it be a Sting Ray or a Viper, and so they were taking it more on their own. I have had one student go to camp with me. But the coolest thing was that my boys were the ones I was really struggling to keep in orchestra. And they became my biggest...they called themselves orc dorks. They would come in with their glasses and they really started to become my leadership in the orchestra and were promoting bringing students in. So I guess, it was more of like an orchestra story where it just created this steam roller effect in orchestra to where they were unstoppable.

JS. Is there anything else that you would like to add that you think is relevant to this study?

T3. I don't think so. I am just glad you are doing it.

JS. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Student 1

JS. Describe your music background for me.

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S1. I began music in the fourth grade as many people do in my high school. Started in the orchestra program and then in sixth grade I took on the band program as well and I pursued both avenues as long as I could.

JS. What is your primary instrument?

S1. My primary instrument is violin.

JS. And, who did you study with and where?

S1. Teacher at High School

JS. Great. Other than listening, what was your experience with popular music before Electrify You Strings?

S1. I understood its existence, and I understood that it could be looked at through a music theory lense, but I wasn't really in tune to understand that through my own instrument, my own means to an end, that that could be brought about in a creative way with my instrument.

JS. I am going to list several things, and the question for these is, have you participated in, and then describe your participation if you have. Have you participated in a traditional orchestral ensemble?

S1. I have. I did all four years of the traditional high school orchestra for concert orchestra, and then in college I did full orchestra setting for a year. And it was really wonderful. I think classical music, no matter how old it gets, is still a very special and dear thing, from which we derive a lot of modern things.

JS. What about solo work?

S1. Yes, part of taking private lessons, I did my classical violin solos, and part of being a composition theory guy, the easiest way to write for somebody to perform it is to write it for yourself.

JS. When you did solo work, was it self-directed or was it more of the master apprentice model?

S1. Some of both.

JS. Did you participate in any small ensembles?

S1. I have. I worked in a string quartet that played classic classical music for ambience. And I performed in the pit orchestras for musicals. And I did jazz combo work.

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JS. Was any of that self-directed, or was it all coached?

S1. The jazz combo was self-directed and the string quartet was self-directed. For the pit orchestra we had of course a music director.

JS. Sure. And did you participate in any non-traditional orchestral ensembles?

S1. For one fine night I got to work in an Avant Garde ensemble performing a tonal and slightly improvised music.

JS. And was that self-directed or was there a musical director for that?

S1. There was a director for that.

JS. Before experiencing an EYS event for the first time, what was your view of popular music in the traditional orchestral ensemble?

S1. My view wasn't super positive. I was one of the kids that thought, "Yeah, pop music is nice if you like four chords, but I am more interested in conceptual and visual virtuosity." So I didn't really give it as much credit as maybe I should have.

JS. How did Mark and the EYS program Alter that view, if any?

S1. Mark changed my view by pointing out that there was so much more to just the music than the music. He taught me that body movement was absolutely intrinsic to performance. He taught me that people listen more with their eyes than with their ears, and even if the song may not be complex, there are complexities within it that can be extrapolated.

JS. Great. What was your first experience with Electrify Your Strings or Mark Wood?

S1. My first experience, about a few months before Mark would come to the school for the first time I was at, my orchestra director played a recording from his album, "These are a few of My Favorite Things." It was "Toss the Feathers.", that was the song, and I was surprised, because there were parts that sounded very eclectic like a fiddle and then his instrument sounded un- fiddle like. That change in timbre made me very curious. That was my first *unintelligible* before I met him.

JS. Ok. Describe your views of the EYS program before your first experience. For instance, what excited you about the program, and why, or, what made you uneasy about the program and why?

S1. I, before experiencing it, I understood it had a wide scope, and I was a little bit nervous. I didn't really work with many big people and I understood that he was a big deal and a very

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talented man. And I understood that my personal violin skills at that point were lack-luster, and that made me nervous, because I am very self-conscious about that. But he was very warm and welcome when he did our EYS, and that really resonated with the things that made me better in other factors, like my caringness, my compassion, my stage-presence as he calls it.

JS. Was there anything that you were excited about beforehand?

S1. The music was pretty fun, and I was excited to play it for sure.

JS. Would your views have been different if it had been a traditional European classical program?

S1. I think probably yes.

JS. How so?

S1. Traditional European classical programs, all be it, wonderful for what they do, they are much more intimidating, perhaps even more cut-throat, and Mark loves it when you dance and play. But if you dance and play while playing an accompaniment to let's say, Tchaikovsky's piano concerto No. 1, perhaps that's scorned upon.

JS. What if it was something not traditional or rock? What if it was Mariachi or Death Metal, or Reggae? Something you weren't familiar with, would your views have been different?

S1. I think perhaps my thought process during it would be different, but I believe I would go to the same conclusion that, it would be quite enjoyable to do and excellent to understand. I think all those different "out-there" genres come from the same core.

JS. Describe your views of the EYS program after experiencing it. Did anything change and why?

S1. Things changed big time. I had a huge paradigm shift within me, almost like an awakening. I understood that the skies kind of the limit with this instrument, so I started experimenting. And *unintelligible* would practice thirty minutes a day like any standard orchestra student, but I just kept upping it. There was so much I could do. I started investing in a cheap electric, I wanted to really play with sounds. And I wanted to play something more my style, and I wanted to find what my style was.

JS. Thank you. Are you doing any.... let me rephrase this since you have already graduated. Did you do anything different in your ensemble after the EYS event?

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S1. After the EYS event, I played a lot more confidently and I noticed that I approached classical music a lot different than I approach other more eclectic genres, so I started approaching classical from this more eclectic focus and I found I got it a little better.

JS. So your approach to your traditional European classical music changed because of the EYS event?

S1. Yes.

JS. Got it. What do you believe was the benefit, if any, of doing an EYS event?

S1. The benefit, aside from the obvious musical benefit prementioned, I got the awakening, I did feel a lot closer to my fellow orchestra mates, a sort of comradery that not only did we do this intensive, but fun hard working few days, but we did it together.

JS. You've already graduated, but if you were still in school, would you do another EYS event?

S1. I would. I actually got to do it twice.

JS. Twice? Wonderful. Would you encourage other students from other schools to participate in an EYS event?

S1. I absolutely would

JS. Ok. Thinking back to your first EYS workshop, can you describe the workshop and the program itself? How many days was your workshop and how many concerts did you do?

S1. We had the two-day option for the rehearsals, and on the second day, that night, we had one performance, and the first one was during school, so we got out a few periods so we could have more time with them, and the second one was after school.

JS. For the rehearsals?

S1. Yeah. And then that night at 9PM was the performance.

JS. 9PM performance? Wow Think about your second workshop. Did anything change the second time you did the EYS?

S1. It was the same rehearsal schedule, but that time, Elijah also came.

JS. Ok, but still two days of rehearsals and one concert?

S1. Yeah.

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JS. Ok. About how many students participated?

S1. About a hundred, a hundred and ten.

JS. How did the workshop proceed? What did Mark do first, second, third, when you started that first rehearsal?

S1. Mark started by greeting us. We all took our seats and he introduced himself to those who did not know him and then he started with a D major scale, 2 octaves. And he was like, "Too Rigid, everybody stand up." and so he got us moving side to side, with this bass drum beat he played to get people moving while playing. And while he did that, he started looking at people to see who resonated with him, because he always wanted to pick the people who he thinks are innate performers to come to the front and experiment. After that we started running the pieces, no particular order. And through those he also started watching people, seeing who was really confident with the repertoire, because they too could do well on stage in the front because they would not need music, theoretically because they could memorize it, which he advocated for. And this process continued where we ran until the end of it.

JS. Ok. How would you describe your level of comfort playing rock music that first EYS?

S1. Started out very uncomfortable, but by the end I felt, I felt very comfortable playing it.

JS. Describe how you prepared for your EYS a little bit.

S1. I prepared, first, because he was gracious enough to provide the MP3s for the music, before I even started practicing it on the instrument, I would read along the sheet music while listening to it to get it in my head. Then eventually started slow and worked in all the fingerings and bowings so I could get it as sharp as I could.

JS. So you used the recordings as reference. Did you every play along with the recordings?

S1. I did.

JS. Did you do that individually as well as in the ensemble, or just one or the other?

S1. As an ensemble we did play with the recordings as well.

JS. What type of seating did you use? Was it a traditional orchestra seating, or modified from that?

S1. Traditional orchestral seating, audition for the chairs, there's a first, there's a concert master.

JS. In the horse shoe shape, with rows?

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S1. Yes, the only difference is we based ours on the Chicago Symphony, so the violas and the cellos switch spots.

JS. Great. Thank you. Was that the same for both your EYS's?

S1. Yes.

JS. Did you incorporate movement and dance into the preparation process? I know you incorporated dance once Mark got there, but before Mark got there, did you incorporate it?

S1. Before Mark got there, there was not a lot of...No, I don't think there was any dance incorporated.

JS. And, who directed the student learning in the rehearsals before Mark?

S1. There were three directors, but there was a head director, and each one kind of picked two songs that they would herald rehearsal for, to divvy up classwork.

JS. Great. Before the EYS, what did you want as a student as an outcome?

S1. I wanted to have a good time. I wanted to learn Mark. I wanted to introduce myself and learn about him, because I was curious. He had a very interesting story, I read his bio, and I wanted to see if I could start a dialogue perhaps. Young me was an inquisitive young man.

JS. What benefits did you experience or witness during the event?

S1. I noticed other people had my sort of awakening, and it wasn't just a personal thing, that other people started seeing that they could do a little bit more. Not everybody. Some people stuck to their rigidity and their vertical thinking, and that is their prerogative, and some people really dug this experimental approach to violin or their instrument.

JS. What about after the event? Did you see any benefits to the program after the event?

S1. There were benefits. Aside from the students being more perhaps open, the orchestra program got a lot of praise. A lot of people came up at his concert. The principals were very pleased with it and the arts program got a lot more attention. I couldn't tell you for sure statistically, but I think more people signed up for orchestra.

JS. Great. What drawbacks did you experience or witness during the Electrify Your Strings program?

S1. I guess the first drawback, I felt a little fatigued. I worked really hard, a little more than I usually cruised through, so I just passed out at nights instead of my usual night owl routine.

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JS. What about after the Electrify Your Strings program. Did you see any drawbacks to the program?

S1. To the entire program, I did not see any drawbacks that I can think of, from it.

JS. What about you individually?

S1. Yeah. When you give someone a new power, like opening their mind to this experimentation, they push the envelope, and I started to cause a little trouble trying to experiment. Chromaticism does not belong in Haydn as they say.

JS. What surprised you about the EYS event that first time?

S1. I expected it to be laid back, because rock advertises itself as this effortless genre and style. But it was just as rigid and focused as someone playing classical. You just have to looked relaxed.

JS. Ok. Describe your average concert season when you were in high school. For instance, what type of literature did you perform?

S1. There were three concerts every year, and the fourth one depending on the year was more basic because it was combined with the middle schoolers and elementary schoolers. The second one usually had Christmas themed literature, such as Russian Christmas music and probably a Prokoviev ballet. A lot of Russian stuff. The spring concert usually has our competition pieces, so you see the big stuff thrown out. Usually one solo and ensemble piece so that one of the really talented string players can show off their stuff. One year, for example was *unintelligible* by *unintelligible*. And then the last concert, something curious. Mark Wood or otherwise filled with fun songs to end the year.

JS. Okay. And what was your rehearsal design. The seating, how the class progress, who typically directed it?

S1. Rehearsal every day. We would go to class, have a rehearsal every day for orchestra, one day a week was a sectional led by either us, or if we had a Master Teacher in, they would lead and assist. It was usually always led by the head director.

JS. And you already described what type of concerts you performed, so we will skip that one. Is there a specific story from your EYS that you think is relevant to this study that you would like to share?

S1. Yeah. I sat pretty far in the back of the seconds when Mark came along, not in the actual back, maybe the middle. But, he saw me anyways, and he brought me up, and it should be noted

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that that fundamentally changed me. He saw something in me that not even the orchestra directors that had known me for seven years saw.

JS. You described yourself as a lack-luster violinist up until that point. Was it, you just weren't as interested in playing, it was just kind of a "for fun" thing, you hadn't really been engaged? Can you describe what changed?

S1. I hadn't really taken it, maybe, as focused. I started because my parents forced me and saying "you might as well do it, you better get a scholarship, because we're not paying." That was why I picked the French horn in band. I hadn't really, I didn't really give it the love it deserved until I realized how much I loved music, and music loved me back.

JS. One final question. Is there anything else that you would like to add that you think is relevant to this study?

S1. I don't think I have anything left to say.

JS. Great. Thank you so much for participating, I really appreciate it.

Student 2

JS. Describe your music background.

S2. So, I started playing cello when I was a fifth grader and then I continued all the way up until my Senior year. And I still play outside of school on my own time.

JS. So cello was your primary instrument?

S2. Yes

JS. And did you study privately at all in that time and with whom?

S2. Not like officially, but I did take lessons.

JS. Other than listening, what was your experience with popular music before EYS?

S2. A couple time my orchestra teacher, not a couple times but every spring we would do concerts where we played more popular music and stuff we would listen to on the radio.

JS. Ok. I am going to list several types of ensembles and I wanted to ask if you participated in them. If you have, describe it briefly. Have you participated in a traditional orchestral ensemble?

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S2. Yes.

JS. Can you describe what that was like? What type of ensemble was it?

S2. So I performed in both the large orchestra ensemble my freshmen year, and that basically anyone that was in orchestra and we all performed together and did pieces together. And then my sophomore, junior, senior year I was in the Chamber orchestra which was a smaller orchestra setting and focused more on harder pieces of music and we would take it to a festival every year and perform.

JS. Did you do any solo work?

S2. I played a couple of solos within those pieces but I didn't do any solos by myself for festival.

JS. Did you participate in any small ensembles?

S2. Yeah. I took a class I think my junior year that was, I can't remember the name of it, it was like fundamentals, and we performed in small ensembles and we would go take them to a festival and once we went to a nursing home to perform for them

JS. Ok, was that a self-directed ensemble or was it coached?

S2. For the most part it was self-directed, like all of us came up with what we wanted to do and the direction we wanted to go and then we would take it to the teacher and ask like opinions and what we could work on.

JS. And did you participate in any non-traditional orchestral ensembles? For instance, did you have a garage band at the school, did you participate in a mariachi group.

S2. No, I did not.

JS. Then that skips the next question. 3. Before experiencing an EYS event what was your view of popular music in the traditional orchestral ensemble?

S2. So I like playing non-traditional music in my orchestra ensemble because my teacher a lot of times took the music himself and re-wrote it, so it actually, like, sounded good and was nice to play. But I have seen other orchestras try to do the same thing with the really crappy arrangements and it didn't really sound good, it sounded kind of hokie, so.

JS. How did Mark and the EYS program alter that view, if any?

S2. They altered it a lot because they showed me that I don't need someone there to change it for me, that I can do it by myself and make it sound just as good.

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JS. Describe your views of the EYS program before your first experience.

S2. So before they came to the school I was of course excited to do it, but I was a little apprehensive because I didn't really know how it was going to go.

JS. What excited you about the program?

S2. I was excited to perform in it because he was a pretty big name, like he worked with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and he was there to teach us and focus on just our school and what we could do to sound better and you know, things we could do as a school.

JS. And what made you uneasy?

S2. Um, I was a little uneasy just because first of all, I knew that some of my classmates could be rowdy, and they didn't really want to listen to what he had to say, and some of the had a really like negative output about it, of not wanting to do it. And personally I was a little uneasy because I wasn't sure what I was capable of doing yet in that aspect.

JS. Would your views have been different if it was a traditionally European classical program?

S2. probably, for the most part, I know personally I really focused on wanting to do just classical stuff, that what I thought I had to do, and so I probably would have been a little more open to it and just ready to do whatever we needed to do, but hearing it was something completely different was a little scary.

JS. And what if it was like Mariachi, reggae, death metal...something you weren't familiar with instead of rock music. Would you views have been different?

S2. No, it probably would have been the same just because I had experienced other people, and seen other people do that, and I grew up listening to stuff like that all the time, so it wasn't too far out there, so I think it would have been the same.

JS. Describe your views of the EYS program after experiencing it.

S2. It definitely for me was pretty much like eye opening and life changing because I got a lot more confident in what I could do as a musician and what I could do with my life in general, along with my playing, and I saw a transformation within my school’s orchestra as well because everyone seemed a lot more excited to try new things and stuff we didn't feel comfortable doing before. Because I felt we really played stuff safe for the most part before that, and after that everyone had like a knew excitement and hunger to try new things.

JS. Are, let me rephrase that since you have already graduated. Did you start doing anything different in your ensembles after your Electrify Your Strings program?

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S2. I know we focused a lot more on playing by ear, which was one thing that was stressed quite a bit by Mark that you know, sometimes just because it looks like you are playing it right on the sheet, it doesn't quite mean you are actually playing it right. A lot of it is just the feel to it. So we did a lot of stuff by ear. We were more excited to try knew, even, classical music that we hadn't heard of before. And then when it came to our spring concerts, we were even more energized to play what our teacher had arranged for us to play.

JS. What do you believe was the benefit, if any, of doing an EYS event?

S2. So for me personally the benefit was just knowing that there was even more I could do musically, that I wasn't locked into just one small box of just having to do classical music for the rest of my life, that there was, that I could do just about any genre of music that I wanted to. And I could make it sound good and make it interesting for people.

JS. If you had the chance, do you anticipate doing another EYS?

S2. Yes. If I was given the chance I would come back anywhere to do one. I would travel anywhere to do one again. They are a ton of fun.

JS. Would you encourage students from a different school to participate in an EYS event?

S2. Yes, because I know a lot of schools do not give them that opportunity, so a lot of kids go out of school with the mindset of, "It's classical or none."

JS. Describe your EYS workshop program. How many days, how many concerts?

S2. So, I did this twice at my school. The first time was a little unconventional and it was just really weird to do because they came out and we had our first rehearsal and it started snowing and there was a blizzard, and so we had to cancel it and move it to April I think it was, so that was quite a bit of time where we were not with them. But then they came back and to make up for that we did two shows with them instead of just one and then the second time we did it with them was their more traditional workshop where you had two days working with them and then we performed a concert together.

JS. So the time that it was rescheduled, how many days of rehearsal, and you said two concerts? So how many days of rehearsal?

S2. I think we had just the regular two with them at first and that is when the snow hit, so we had to push it back. Then we had another rehearsal with them, I think. Either that or it was one rehearsal and then two. It was my freshmen year, so I can't really remember exactly.

JS. So, was it a rehearsal and then two shows, or was it a rehearsal, a show, rehearsal, show?

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S2. So there was a rehearsal, and then a rehearsal the morning or afternoon of, and then we had a concert that night. And the concert the night after.

JS. How many student participants in your first one?

S2. There were quite a few of us, definitely not as much as the second time, but I know that we invited the choir, so there were quite a few choir kids with us as well. I think all in all it might have been a little over a hundred, I think?

JS. And what about your second one?

S2. The second one there was definitely at least a hundred strictly orchestra students and then I think we had almost all of the choir students.

JS. Give me a rough number for the choir.

S2. Maybe 150 to 200. Somewhere around there.

JS. And how did the workshop proceed? So the first rehearsal with Mark, what did he do first, what did he do second, where did he go from there?

S2. So, the way his rehearsal typically went, and it stayed true for both the one we had to reschedule and the second one, was we usually started off with him being like, "Hey, I'm Mark this is Laura," just introducing everyone to us. And then we would start just basic tuning, warming up, and just learning warm ups his way. Like loose, not so serious time. And then we would move just to the first piece just to see what we sounded like playing through them. And then after he got a feel for how we sounded playing through each of the pieces, he would decide which one he wanted to work on the most, and then stepping down from there to which one we needed to work on the least. And then we would focus on pieces one by one after that.

JS. You said "warm ups his way." Can you describe Mark's way of warm up?

S2. So a lot of Mark's way of warm up is not just sitting there playing notes over and over. A lot of it is movement, learning to move with your instrument as you are playing with a drum beat behind you. Just learning how it would be to perform on stage, just getting loosened up and ready to go.

JS. How would you describe your level of comfort with playing rock music prior to EYS?

S2. Prior to that I was terrified. I didn't really want to look at it, I didn't really want to think about it, because looking at it on paper was kind of scary, even though I knew how the music went, it was scary looking at it on paper because I was like "this is a cello, it is not a guitar, what am I supposed to do?"

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JS. What about now?

S2. Now I am really comfortable with it. Now it's, l just need mostly like just a basic guideline on paper and then I will just reference the actual song in my head and just go from there.

JS. Describe how you prepared for your EYS.

S2. So for the EYS we would play music in class, and we would go over it and break it down. Try to prepare it as much as we could. And then the Saturday before they came, we did this both years. We had what we called a play-a-thon, where we got together and played pretty much for twelve hours straight with like lunch and dinner in between. And so we would just go through each of the songs and hammer out pieces and play through them and try to perfect them.

JS. Did you use recordings at all?

S2. Yeah.

JS. And how did you use the recordings?

S2. So we would listen to it first off just to see the road map of the song, to see how it went. And then we would break down the pieces we knew we would have trouble with and the parts that would be troubling and then we would speed it up, and then we would play it with the recording.

JS. What type of seating did you use for EYS?

S2. So it was definitely not the traditional orchestral seating where you are in a U shape. It was block seating to where you were in a block formation facing your audience and it was straight across the whole stage, so you were not really facing anyone but your audience.

JS. Did you incorporate movement and dance into the preparation process?

S2. With Mark we definitely did. And then our teacher at the same time was telling, "don't be afraid to move, move with the music, do what it tells you to." And then when Mark and Laura got there, they stressed it even more that if you are just sitting still and playing it looks kind of boring, so we would experiment with different movements and stuff as we were preparing the pieces to see what worked.

JS. And who directed the student learning in the rehearsals?

S2. In the rehearsals, a lot of it was just based on what we were doing that day. If we were doing as a full group together, then the teacher would help direct, and the student section leaders would help direct the section and the sections would come up with different ideas per section and

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try to mesh it together with what other sections were doing. So it was a big group effort for the most part.

JS. Would you describe that as similar to the way a traditional concert would go for your class or different.

S2. So I think our orchestra all around was different from most other orchestras, because a lot of other orchestras I have seen, the teacher kind of dictated what would happen. And with our orchestra, the teacher, you know of course had the ultimate say in everything, but he was always very open to what we thought and how we wanted things to feel and go through out the rehearsal and then to the final concert. So it was similar. Maybe not to full extent of the EYS, but definitely it was similar to how class went.

JS. Before the EYS, what did you want as an outcome?

S2. Before the EYS, I just wanted to learn something new. I just wanted to be able to expand my musical comfortness and my vocabulary. And ultimately I just wanted to know different techniques and stuff. I didn't even really expect to learn as much as they showed me.

JS. What benefits did you experience or witness during the EYS event?

S2. Definitely my confidence level and just playing in general. Because before I was always really scared to play a wrong note or even just to be heard. And so, being there, being told, "it's okay to play out, it's okay if you make a wrong note. If you make a wrong note, you know, play it loud. We can fix it; we can go off of it." You know, it definitely builds a confidence that wasn't there before and an excitement for music.

JS. What about after the EYS? Were there any benefits that you experienced or witnessed after the event?

S2. After the event I felt like I definitely took more leadership for my section in the orchestra classes and it showed me how to do new things like try out for theater, and just become a leader there and be confident just to be on stage in general.

JS. So let me do a tangent really quick about that. Did you participate in theater before the EYS, or was that something you felt like you had this confidence now and now you did decide to do theater too?

S2. So before EYS, I was in a theater class, but I always told my teacher, "please don't put me on stage, just let me paint, just let build things." And after the EYS it gave me such a confidence that, like I was okay being on stage. I had like, I wanted to be on stage, I wanted to try new things. So it definitely made me want to be in theater even more, because I probably wouldn't have done it again.

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JS. What drawbacks did you experience or witness during the EYS?

S2. I think the only drawback was just like, as a group, I saw wanting to play classical music less. So when it came back to going to what the school wanted us to play to be able to go to festival and do, you know, normal orchestra things, there was less of an excitement to do just standard orchestra music. We always wanted, if we had to do classical, we wanted to do something difficult and fast, and we didn't want to do just classical, really, really slow music, which is what most people think we are doing.

JS. And what about after the EYS. Did you experience any drawbacks afterwards?

S2. Not really. I don't think there was a huge drawback afterwards. Everyone was just really into music after that, it seemed like.

JS. What surprised you about the Electrify Your Strings program?

S2. The only thing that really surprised me was just, there were people, who were just like myself, were really quiet, and didn't really interact not only with one another, but in general, like at our concerts, we always wanted to be sort of in the back, not really seen. And just after the EYS and during, it just became one of those things where it was, where we were comfortable not only interacting with each other, but being seen on stage and wanting to actually do things like that.

JS. Describe you average concert season.

S2. So typically for a concert we would have one in October and then we would have one in Christmas, and that would be like our Christmas concert. And then we would have a Feb concert, I believe, and then we would have classes like the Chamber orchestra that would work on festival music, and then we would also would have the big show at the end, like our spring show. And we would have smaller shows in between for festival and district art fair, just depending on what requirements we had.

JS. Describe the type of literature for those performances.

S2. So for like the October and the February concert, usually it was just, classical pieces that we wanted to perform for our parents and just we always wanted to do new stuff. For the Christmas concerts we would always do the quote, unquote, classical Christmas music, but then we would also branch out and play some Trans-Siberian Orchestra music as well. And then for festival we would always play based off their set list and their requirements for us and what we needed to play. And then for district art fair we typically played something a little more popular because the student population would be going around looking at art, so we wanted to play something that was entertaining to them. And then for our spring show we typically we would play one or

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two classical piece, maybe, and then everything after that was something that was a little more poppy or rock music based off what we wanted to play in the class.

JS. What was the rehearsal design? How did you sit, how was seating done, class progression, was it teacher directed?

S2. So typically seating was in the classical u shaped formation that you see other orchestras sit in. And about half the time the teacher would pick, especially for festival, it was you know who he thought needed to sit where to make the orchestra stronger overall. And then throughout the rest of the time it was about half and half where we would pick where we wanted to sit, and then we would adjust based on what the orchestra needed to sound better. And then sometimes he would tell us where we were sitting.

JS. What type of concerts did you perform? We already discussed that so we can move on. Is there a specific story from your EYS event that you think is relevant to this study that you would like to share?

S2. One thing that I think is really relevant is that EYS is not super, like, you know, something everyone thinks that orchestras do. We are doing classic rock music, we are doing current pop music and it shows orchestras that there is something else for us to do outside just classical music. Because a lot of time you will see band students grow up to be in marching band and then be able to play on stage with famous musicians because "Oh, it's a band instrument, they can do so much things." but then we are shoved into this little box that all you can do it play classical music on a stage, you know, for old people, is typically what I grew up thinking. And the EYS definitely showed us that there are different things we can do, that it does benefit kids, because it installs confidence, it installs an excitement to see what we could do in our future.

JS. I want to follow a tangent really quick. You described band kids as being able to go on and play on stage with famous people. Can you delve into that just a little bit more? Explain why that it, in your opinion, that a band kid isn't in a box that the orchestra seems to be in.

S2. So, I know that in our high school we have several different bands. We have a marching band, we have a concert band, and then we have a jazz band. And so it shows them, here are a couple different options. And then in the marching band kids get to grow up and they see bands like the OU band and the K-State band be able to go to places like Disney world and stuff like that, and play for large crowds of people and do these cool formations that every will go home and talk about. And then at the super bowl we saw the Red Hot Chile Peppers perform with some kids that were playing trumpets and saxophones and all those other instruments, and you typically never turn on the t.v. and see an orchestra playing for any half time event or anything like that. And I think especially with me growing up, my Dad was such a big football fan that I saw, "oh, the band kids get to do this, and I get to sit here and go play with the symphony, and old people will show up to watch it."

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JS. What in your opinion is the difference? Is it the type of instrument, the literature? Just the culture?

S2. I think it is a mixture of the culture and just the type of instrument. Because like I know, like I said, you see band kids be so publicized and bands playing at half time events and bands you know out playing in subways for people. Even people playing guitar. And then they have new arrangements. Like marching bands always play songs people know. They always play something that is a tribute to something or you know, like, one of the bands was playing Fall Out Boy music, and like, that's cool! That's music that people know. And the you look at orchestra literature and very rarely do you see an arrangement that people want to play that is something, that you know, someone knows. Typically, it's all old school classical music that everyone has heard a million times.

JS. Is there anything else that you would like to add that you think is relevant to this study?

S2. I don't know, I think I covered it on my tangent there.

JS. Well, thank you very much for participating.

Student 3

JS. Describe your musical background for me.

S3. I've played the violin since the fourth grade, so that would now be almost 16 years, maybe 15.

JS. Was violin your primary instrument?

S3. Yes.

JS. Where did you study and with whom?

S3. Well, I started out in elementary school with a teacher I don't remember and then it started out in middle school all the way through high school. And then independently throughout college.

JS. Other than listening, what is your experience with popular music?

S3. Can you elaborate on that question?

JS. Do you play in a garage band? Do you normally play popular music, or is listening your own interaction with it?

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S3. Listening is my only interaction

JS. Have you participated, I am going to list several of these and you tell me if you've participated and describe your participation.

S3.ok.

JS. Have you participated in a traditional orchestral ensemble?

S3. Yes.

JS. Describe that.

S3. More church setting and like Christmas music.

JS. Have you ever done a solo, any solo work?

S3. Yes, not that it has ever gone anywhere.

JS. Was that self-directed or was it the master apprentice model?

S3. Self-directed.

JS. Have you ever participated in small ensembles?

S3. Yes

JS. Was it self-directed or was it coached?

S3. Technically coached. Again, for church.

JS. Any non-traditional orchestra ensembles?

S3. Does EYS count?

JS. Well, the EYS would count.

S3. Cause it is kind of non-traditional. So yeah, EYS.

JS. And was that peer-directed or not?

S3. Technically both, I mean. We had people that were not peers that directed, but you also took suggestions from your peers.

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JS. Ok. Before experiencing an EYS event, what was your view of popular music in the traditional orchestral ensemble?

S3. I thought it was definitely cool. I mean, definitely different though, not traditional, obviously.

JS. How did Mark and the EYS program alter that view, if any?

S3. They made it acceptable that pop music could be played in a different setting other than a garage band.

JS. Ok. And what was your first experience with EYS or Mark Wood? What was your first experience?

S3. My first experience was here at high school, when we had our first show that got snowed out. That we literally worked for two days and then couldn't...or, worked for a whole day with Mark and couldn't do the concert because of all the snow. So I mean, we worked with Mark, Steve Costello, his son Elijah, Laura Kaye in a very positive and upbeat manner

JS. Ok. Describe your views of the EYS program before your first experience. What excited you about it, and why?

S3. I really didn't know anything about it before school. I thought, I thought it looked cool, but to me it was "it costs a lot of money, that's money I don't have." So it was really something that I wanted to do, but then when we got to play all the music it was a lot more worth it, and it seemed to be a lot more like other people wanted it too. Because it *muffled word* very easy. Like I sold easily my 20 tickets that we were supposed to sell to pay for your part or whatever. And I had so many family members come, and I think that made it even more fun because that was the first time that it wasn't a traditional concert, and I had more family and friends that wanted to come see me play my instrument in a really cool and unique way. And that made me proud of playing my instrument and made me feel like I was set apart from other people.

JS. What made you uneasy about the program? You already mentioned cost, but was there anything else that made you uneasy and why?

S3. Mark is intimidating, until you get to know him, and then he is really hilarious, and then there is really nothing intimidating about him. But, being as a high school and like, in eighth or ninth grade or whatever, tenth grade, first time meeting someone who was such a big part, such an innovative new culture, that had to do with orchestra, it was intimidating. It's almost like someone who like, not only studied classical music their whole life and meeting Bach, but like when you want to go in a different direction and you see someone who is trying to do that, it's cool, but still intimidating.

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JS. Would your views have been different if it had been a traditional European classical program?

S3. I think it would have been the most boring thing of my life, if Mark had taught me classical music. I mean, his personality would have made it a little bit of fun, but the pop music was part of the fun.

JS. What if it was Mariachi, or death metal, or something you weren't as familiar with as rock music, or traditional classical music? Would your views have been different?

S3. Yeah, because again that would have been entering into a whole new realm of music that I am unfamiliar with, and so that would make it a little bit uncomfortable for me in the beginning at least until I started to understand it better and start to become more open to the idea.

JS. Describe your views of the EYS program after experiencing it. Did anything change?

S3. Nothing. Well, I guess that's not true. I think it is a great experience. I think it really helps students kind of self-evolve and really grow in confidence with themselves, you get to let loose, and you really get, kind of, this nourishment, in weird sense. You're playing music that is fun to sing, and really fun to dance to, and that makes you happy, and yet you have someone who really innovated it who is sitting there encouraging you to do that in a really fun and upbeat way makes you want to do it even more. So EYS kind of just embodied the whole being unique and breaking the traditional mold of what orchestras are supposed to be, which again, made it even more fun, because you were able to embrace your own self, your own confidence as a musician to really play the music that made you the most happy, which now a days has gone towards a little bit of pop personally for myself. It's a lot more fun and upbeat.

JS. Did you do anything different in your ensembles after EYS?

S3. I felt more confident so I would go for those notes that are definitely shifted even though I knew there was like 10% chance of them being right. I don't know, it was just easier to feel more confident in my abilities and to not really second guess myself playing a piece for the first time, which, for me personally was very hard seeing a piece for the first time and being very intimidated by all the music and all the notes, but after EYS and after Mark and all the coaching and stuff it was just like, it was just music. It's just notes, like, so what if you miss something, so what if you don't get it right away, so what if you are out of pitch the first time you are reading it. So really that made me a lot more confident in my abilities as a musician.

JS. What do you believe was a benefit, if any, of doing an EYS event?

S3. Confidence, yeah, confidence. I think one, it brought together the community. I just remember us having to have 2 shows because so many people wanted to come. It helped us, the

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orchestra, and music program grow. I feel like it just really brought everyone closer together. It encouraged confidence and like, it just made me happy.

JS. If you had an opportunity, I know you are out school now, but would you do another EYS event?

S3. Of course.

JS. Would you encourage students from other schools to participate in an EYS event?

S3. Absolutely

JS. Describe your EYS workshop/program. How many days, how many concerts?

S3. Originally it was supposed to be 2 days of workshop, or really, like one and a half, and then concert day. The second time we did 2 days, 2 concerts.

JS. Was that 2 days and then 2 concerts, or was it a day, a concert, a day, a concert?

S3. A day, a concert, a day, a concert.

JS. How many students participated?

S3. I feel like the majority of our orchestra. Like 100 people. I guess if you consider choir and band. 200ish. That's a very, very rough estimate.

JS. How did the workshop proceed? So that very first day, what did Mark do first?

S3. He basically just had us run through music, and it was kind of like, "let's see what are rough spots, what are you guys already really good at, what needs work, what needs my touch," basically. Like "where can I best put my professional advice towards." was really what the whole first day was geared towards. Figuring out what needed the help the most.

JS. How would you describe your level of comfort with playing rock music?

S3. Now I would say I feel pretty confident, like 9 out of 10, depending on the music.

JS. What about before the EYS?

S3. Before the EYS? You're talking like a 2 or 3, unless it was Adele. And that was just because we had played that before.

JS. Describe how you prepared for your EYS. Did you use recordings?

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S3. No, I used Best Friend.

JS. So you didn't listen to recordings of the songs ahead of time.

S3. Oh, yeah, depending on the song. Like it was a song I had never heard of, I would most definitely listen to recordings so you kind of knew how it was supposed to sound. But if it was a song I had already heard of, it was a little more fun to kind of put your own edge on it then. But then you kind of had to wait to see what you really had to sound like at the concerts. You would just wait to see what Mark had to say.

JS. Did you use the recordings at all to play along with?

S3. No. Probably should have, but no.

JS. What type of seating did you use? Did you use a traditional seating or did you use a variation?

S3. What do you mean?

JS. So, typical traditional seating is half-moon shapes in rows.

S3. Well, we did rows.

JS. were they straight rows or were they...

S3. Straight.

JS. ...half-moons?

S3. Oh, were they half-moons?

JS. I'm asking you.

S3. I thought they were straight the first time, like literally straight lines. They were straight lines, that's my final answer.

JS. Did you incorporate movement and dance into the preparation process?

S3. No, even though I should have. We waited for Mark to do that.

JS. And who directed the student learning in the rehearsals?

S3. The teacher.

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JS. Did anybody else?

S3. Well, Mark Wood.

JS. In the rehearsals prior to the EYS?

S3. Well, sometimes the Choir Teacher, or the Band Teacher if they were helping out or providing other insight.

JS. Before the EYS, what did you want as an outcome?

S3. Just to have fun really. That is the whole reason I wanted orchestra. Coming from someone that is in a really science background, using music as really, a way to be relieved from all the stress that comes from studying all the time and getting good grades, thinking all the brainy stuff, so I just wanted to relax and have fun.

JS. And what benefits did you experience or witness during the EYS, actually during it?

S3. I just saw a lot of other kids that maybe were less confident than me in high school become more confident with themselves, which I thought was a really cool experience if you like think about it and you take back and you look at someone who was very closed off, very quiet and you see them on this stage and they are just having a blast playing their music, being very carefree. It's very encouraging and awesome to see.

JS. What about after the EYS. Were there any benefits that you saw after the event?

S3. I felt a lot of people in our orchestra were a lot more confident and had a lot more fun just coming to rehearsal even just to play classical music. People were a lot more care free, people enjoyed their time more so than they had before EYS.

JS. What drawbacks did you experience or witness during the EYS event?

S3. I can't say what I want to say. There wasn't really any drawbacks. I got to skip class and I got free food.

JS. Were there any drawbacks after the event, that you noticed?

S3. We had to go back to school and do classes regularly. There wasn't any real drawbacks, but I guess that would be a drawback.

JS. What surprised you about EYS after that first event?

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S3. That I had never heard about it before and yet it seems like something that should be normalized at this point. Like with how we are growing and changing our society, and how we're changing our outlook on like normal education and changing our outlook on what we consider to be traditional music versus what should just be fun, what ...I felt, to me growing up, music should be all about what makes you happy, and I felt that by the time I left high school it wasn't just classical music. we were playing music that made me happy, that was fun, that was challenging me to really focus on my pitch, to focus on being a good stand partner, giving good advice as a leader in class and being someone who just wanted to help everyone else just grow and learn and play together because that's a little bit different in an orchestra. You're not all trying to do a solo, you're trying to make sure that you all sound together and that you balance each other out. And before EYS, I kind of don't really think I thought about it that way. I kind of only, maybe, was a little self-centered and really only thought about how do I sound instead of how does everybody sound, so that was eye-opening for me.

JS. Describe your average concert season, your typical concert season in high school. What type of literature did you usually perform?

S3. Mostly classical music. I mean occasionally a fun pop, now then song. Something that was on the radio, but it was mainly traditional or like what I would consider, churchy music

JS. And what was the rehearsal design? How did you sit, how did the class progress, who was directing the learning?

S3. So the teacher was the director. We sat in a u shape and it was very much, "OK, let’s run a few times, see what people get off the bat, let's see what people don't get, where are going to be our problem pitches, key changes." Also, like what I personally like to do before a new piece was just to look through it myself a couple times. What are some things I can already tell are going to be different? Where are there going to be bow changes? Is there a key change or like a Bb or something like that, and then, once we got together as an orchestra, it was definably more like, how do we sound together, what does, us as a group need to work on, which could be very different than what I personally would need to work on.

JS. What type of concerts did you perform?

S3. High School concerts? Like?

JS. Typical classical concerts, or did you do a pops concert?

S3. We did do a pops concert. Typically in the spring. Then more classical in the wintery concert around Christmas time.

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JS. Is there a specific story from your EYS that you think is relevant to the study that you would like to share?

S3. Not that it is relevant to share, no.

JS. Is there a story that you think is worthy of being shared?

S3. Not that it's appropriate.

JS. Is there anything else that you would like to add that you think is relevant to this study.

S3. I am good, thank you.

JS. Thank you for participating.

Administrator 1

JS. Describe your music background.

A1. That, I began playing piano in first or second grade. My mom was a music performance major with piano and voice. She ended up just keeping the piano portion. And, that I played piano. I started band, I played flute all the way through high school and I accompanied for kids from high school time through college. I play at church now, and I have a music minor.

JS. Other than listening, what is your experience with popular music?

A1. Perhaps performing some selections. Listening on the radio. Primarily that, unless the choir here does some sort of selection like that. Choir, band or orchestra.

JS. Ok. I am going to list several ensembles and you tell me if you have participated in them and describe how you have participated. Have you participated in a traditional orchestral ensemble?

A1. No.

JS. Have you done solo work?

A1. yes.

JS. Was it self-directed or the master/apprentice model?

A1. A little bid of both.

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JS. Did you do any small ensembles?

A1. Yes.

JS. Were they self-directed or were they coached?

A1. Coached.

JS. Any non-traditional orchestral ensembles?

A1. no.

JS. Before experiencing an EYS event, what was your view of popular music in the traditional orchestral ensemble?

A1. Something that I would hear whenever I was on hold on the telephone. Something that I might be hearing as instrumental background music, really elevator music is the term I would say there.

JS. How did Mark and the EYS program alter that view, if any?

A1. Greatly. I would say that that view very much changed, that it, whenever I think of orchestra, I think of that classical model there. And however, EYS has greatly broadened that to see how, that popular music can be done stylistically, professionally, to where it sounds very, well professional. It sounds professional, it sounds appealing. It is more than just a monotonous remake of a popular song in a classical style. That, that EYS really, their pieces sound good, sound really good. And it is an orchestra performing a popular song, you don't think of that happening. That's not what it equated to in my mind before. You know, orchestra does things that are by classical composers, historical composers, not popular pieces other than something I made you play for an assembly, you know. That's kind of what I thought of.

A1. What was your first experience with EYS or Mark Wood?

JS. I am not sure of the date of that, but whenever the orchestra teacher talked to me about starting a program here, and that, really seeing that concert. Even in our conversations leading up to that, I didn't grasp exactly what that was going to be, but watching our kids work with him, and work with that lead performer, that watching the interaction there and watching their engagement, and then watching that concert, that was really mind blowing, and so you may need to repeat the question for me, I am a little bit off track perhaps. But watching that, it was not what I anticipated. It was truly so much better.

JS. Your first experience with EYS, was it Mark Wood, or was it one of the other artists?

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A1. I... was that...was that Bridgid? That's what I recall. And going over there and watching the kids, and that Bridgid was leading that, and watching them performing. Watching them really hang on her words and what she was doing and how they would jump right in whenever she would tell them to, and, that was my first real encounter with it, was actually observing them in that practice, and then at that concert.

JS. Describe your views of the EYS program before your first experience. For instance, what excited you about the program and why, and what made you uneasy about the program and why?

A1. It was excited to me that, number one, my teacher felt like it was such a positive exp... going to be such a positive experience, and he'd had interaction with that organization, so his excitement was promising to me. And that he was able to convince the students of that and help them see that. My hesitation was I thought, "really, okay these kids are going to pay all this money, all this money for those two days and then in the end, are parents and kids going to say that that was worth it, or that they would rather go on a trip or out of town?" And, is that value going to be there. The other piece there, my hesitancy, was "how is this really going to play out." Okay, we have an orchestra concert. I have been to orchestra concerts. Is it really going to be that different? And it was.

JS. Since you brought up cost versus value, do you think it balanced, the cost versus value provided?

A1. Yes, Absolutely. And that we have evidence to back that up because kids continue to do it. And it continues to even following that. You will see the t-shirts out and about. We continue to have a packed audience for it. And so yes.

JS. Would your views had been different if the program was not the rock music. If it was a traditional European classical program coming in?

A1. Yes.

JS. How so?

A1. Okay, I am going to answer that from the perspective of having seen it. It's again, you have the cost piece there, and you have, the orchestra performs concerts for free, and so we have that going on. But the excitement and energy comes in whenever you have that performer and you have the popular style of music that appeals to teenagers. And so basically you end up having a rock concert inside your auditorium. Or your kids get to put on a rock concert, and that is so energizing to them.

JS. What if it was neither? What if it was Mariachi or Reggae, or something you weren't as familiar with as the rock music? would you have been more excited; would you have been more uneasy?

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A1. I think with the cost; it would have made me more uneasy. I think we look at our target audience here, and who we're dealing with; that's teenagers. What appeals the most to teenagers. What are they willing to pay for? What are they going to be excited about? And while I think that there may be a subsection of the population that would be really excited about some of those items, I think that more excitement is going to come from the rock orchestra concept, that that appeals to more teenage students.

JS. Describe your views of the EYS program after experiencing it. Did anything change and why?

A1. Yeah, I think, really, I think it's probably the best thing I have ever seen on our high school campus. It was so energizing, we didn't have enough seats for everybody, the kids were telling their friends about it, they were talking about it, they were excited about it. It's something that, it truly is a learning experience for these kids. It's something that working with that performer, working with a style of music that is relevant to them and to their peers, they're going to remember that for their lifetime, and the energy then that that creates impacts our school. "Look at what our school, what we get to do at our school,” and we get to do something that is meaningful to teenagers and it's an excellent learning opportunity for them. They have to work at that.

JS. What do you believe was the benefit, if any, of doing an EYS event? I think you kind of touched base, but is there anything else you would like to add?

A1. Well I think it is a draw for your music program. I think that, that energy is going to draw more kids into your program and it's going to, even if they're not going to participate, perhaps they would go to some concerts then and be involved in that.

JS. Do you anticipate hosting another EYS at your school?

A1. YES! yeah, that while our teacher has a vision for that and continue it and even if we would down the line have a different teacher, I would try to share that vision with them.

JS. Would you encourage your counterparts from other schools to host an EYS event?

A1. Yes.

JS. Before the EYS, what did you want as an outcome for your school? Before the first one.

A1. I wanted it to be well organized. I wanted it to be engaging for kids and be a positive experience for them. I expressed about the concerns about the cost, there was a significant cost there, and that if it's well organized and if it's engaging to kids, then it would have been worth their investment. And it was. It was all of that.

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JS. What benefits did you experience or witness during the EYS itself? Those two days?

A1. Well, I told you that whenever I walked over there, watching those kids that were onstage with Bridgid, how intently they watched her, and listened to her, and did what she wanted them to do. That was impressive to me.

JS. What about after the EYS? Were there any benefits that you experienced or witnessed long- term?

A1. That's hard for me to quantify. However, I remember that the next week at school, there were conversations about it, and there were lots of kids wearing their t-shirts, and, so that shows me that it was meaningful to them. And again, that sustaining it. That we've not only had one, we've been able to have multiple. And so word is getting around that this is something fun to be involved with.

JS. What drawbacks did you experience or witness during the EYS itself? Those 2 days?

A1. I think. The only drawback, I would say, is that sometimes scheduling is difficult, with it. And we had the one with the snow day issue. Sometimes that's just going to happen. It is beyond our control, it's beyond their control. And, that whenever you are, whenever your product is worthwhile and a quality product, you're going to be in demand and it's going to be difficult to schedule, and that's how it is. So, I didn't have any concerns other than that.

JS. What about after the EYS long-term?

A1. No.

JS. Did you see any non-music benefits from participation in EYS?

A1. Yeah. I think the energy there. The energy and the positive conversations. This is something that's about teenagers, it's for teenagers, and my school did it. I felt like students were proud of that, that their school did that.

JS. What surprised you about EYS?

A1. I was surprised at the quality of it. That, again, the picture in my mind of what I expected, the reality exceeded that greatly. The quality of the sound, the quality of the instruction, and just the instruments. The high quality instruments that they brought and allowed some of the kids to work with.

JS. Did you have any concerns about the EYS program beforehand? You touched on the money issue. Was there anything else that concerned you beforehand?

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A1. Well, I didn't know how it was going to play out having a rock concert in the auditorium. Am I going to have kids moshing in the front, am I going to have any concerns there? And, that was never realized. That was not something I worried about after the first one, after seeing it one time.

JS. Did you field any parent concerns before or after the EYS event?

A1. No. I think I had some questions about fundraising money. About, "had this money been turned in," something like that. That's it. There was never a complaint about participation in the program. No.

JS. What was the general reception from the community?

A1. Positive. They want to come. They want to see it, they will pay to see it, and that we don't have enough seats for it.

JS. Is there a specific story from your EYS that you think is relevant to this study that you would like to share?

A1. I don't have a specific story, but I do think it's powerful for kids because it opens their eyes to what music can be. We sometimes have a confined view of what music is, and can be. Well it's that song that my mom listens to, my grandma listens to on the classical radio station, ok, and that's what it means to be in an orchestra. Well, it can be. However, it is definitely not the only way to do that. And so I think EYS opens their eyes to "this is what music can be, there are endless possibilities there, that music can be so many different things, and it's not just one thing." And so it makes music relevant to more students, and even, I think, for their parents. It does that too. For anyone who sees that, that they will interpret orchestra differently from that point on.

JS. Last question. Is there anything else you would like to add that you think is relevant to this study?

A1. I think, I think it's very beneficial to offer this to our students and I would encourage any high school that is looking at that, to do that. I think it would be good for their students.

JS. Great, thank you so much.

Administrator 2

JS. Describe your music background.

A2. I played saxophone back in middle school and high school.

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JS. Did you do marching band, pep band, that type of stuff?

A2. Both marching and pep band. That was in high school, but that's been, yeah, a long time ago.

JS. Was saxophone your primary instrument?

A2. Yes.

JS. Ok, did you study privately at all?

A2. No.

JS. Ok, and other than listening, what was your experience with popular music?

A2. None.

JS. I am going to list several ensembles, you can tell me if you’ve participated in them, and describe your participation if you have. So have you participated in a traditional orchestral ensemble?

A2. No.

JS. Did you do any solo work?

A2. Nope.

JS. Did you play in any small ensembles?

A2. No.

JS. Any non-traditional orchestral ensembles?

A2. No.

JS. Ok, before experience an EYS event, what was your view of popular music in the traditional orchestral ensemble?

A2. My experience would have been what happened with Metallica. And when did they do the...what album was it that they did.

JS. Ok, with the San Francisco symphony

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A2. Yeah

JS. Is it that one you're speaking of?

A2. Uh huh, that was the only view I would have had at all with orchestra and popular music.

JS. Ok, other than that, it was...orchestra was traditional...

A2. Very much.

JS. Classical music?

A2. Absolutely, yep.

JS. How did Mark and the EYS program alter that view, if any?

A2. Well, it showed me that they go, they tie together much better than I ever imagined. I had no idea what the experience would be going into that, and that is absolutely one of my favorite events we host in our school, without a doubt. The magic it brings to kids, the enthusiasm they have, the enthusiasm from the crowd. I just think it is incredible.

JS. What was your first experience with EYS or Mark Wood?

A2. Well, let's see...we did, we have done 2 at this point in our building, I think. Have we done this twice? 3 times, I think. Have I been here for all 3? Okay, well than, my first experience would have been 6 or 7 years ago, however long it's been.

JS. Describe your views of the EYS program before your first experience.

A2. I didn't have any idea what it was.

JS. Okay.

A2. No clue.

JS. Was there anything that excited you about it before you knew what it was? Or made you uneasy about it?

A2. I mean, I suppose since my views of orchestra had been so traditional that I didn't really imagine how that would go together. I really didn't know how the community would respond, how the kids would respond to it. I really had no expectation what would happy.

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JS. Ok. Well go ahead and skip number 6 since you were so unfamiliar with the program, your views probably wouldn't have changed. Describe your views of the EYS program after experiencing it. Did anything change and explain that a little bit.

A2. Well, it showed me how excited kids could be about music and about orchestra specifically. Growing up believing that orchestra was so traditional and focused on more traditional music, I just didn’t, couldn't even possibly fathom the excitement that kids could have, so, and knowing so many of the kids individually that performed, and seeing their responses and their reactions when they were doing a solo or playing, having the opportunity to play one of the electrical instruments, it was truly unbelievable, like altered their personality they were so enthusiastic about performing.

JS. You saw a different side of the students so to speak?

A2. Yeah, absolutely. And the response from the crowd. I think that when your traditional...I have been to a lot of orchestra events as an administrator for 15 years, and they all except for EYS are more traditional and the crowd is a crowd that would sit and politely watch a concert, and then you're at an orchestra concert where people are standing and cheering and it's like you're at a rock concert, and it's a game changer. It makes, it shows, it creates a program that kids want to be a part of without a doubt if that's an opportunity they are going to have.

JS. Ok, what do you believe was the benefit, if any, of doing an EYS event?

A2. I think just the publicity you're getting for your program, the marketing, the, I mean it is obviously a strategy to build your program. To start having community members, staff, students see the connections that orchestra is not solely, designated, used with traditional music. There is connection to all genres. Yeah, these are some things I can think of.

JS. Do you anticipate hosting another EYS at your school?

A2. I sure hope so!

JS. Why is that?

A2. Again, it is top, maybe my favorite event we do here in our building, of anything we do, any activities we put on, I think that is the most...one of the most special events we do for kids. So why not, do, continue to do that.

JS. Yeah

A2. I mean, we just need a bigger venue, maybe do more of them, I don't know how, I know it's.... yeah, anyway...it's difficult to host, takes a lot of work, but...

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JS. Would you encourage your counterparts from other schools to host an EYS event?

A2. Of course, yes!

JS. Before the EYS, what did you want as an outcome for your school? You describe your first time as not really knowing about the program...let's talk about the second time. What's one of the outcomes you were hoping to see from the event?

A2. Well what I think what you want to see from any type of music program is your numbers increase, your kids improving, your kids wanting to take more risks in their music and their approach to music. You want to see them retaining and staying in the program over the course of all four years of high school.

JS. What about...I'm sorry, I skipped ahead. What benefit did you experience or witness during the EYS event itself, those two days?

A2. Well, you saw kids working collaboratively, saw them very focused on a common goal. When you see kids having an intense interest in the subject that they're working on in school you see the relevance of that they are experiencing, all the work they have put in over time is now coming to this major production and it is application of their skills. It is the ultimate education experience for a kid. That's hard to replicate in other subject areas.

JS. What about after the EYS program? Were there any long term benefits that you saw?

A2. I think you're seeing kids want to stay in orchestra. I think you're seeing kids make connections between orchestra and popular music, you're...that creates an enthusiasm for them. So your programs going to build, your skills are going to improve, you’re going to have kids retain in the program. I think that is going to just continue as long as we do EYS.

JS. What drawbacks did you experience or witness during the EYS itself, those 2 days?

A2. Well, one of the drawbacks in, when you're thinking school wide, is when kids are so hyper- focused on one thing that it's kind of hard to concentrate on any other thing that they're doing that's going on in the school for those two days. Now granted, I think the benefits outweigh those drawbacks, but I'm sure that other teachers in the building are probably thinking, "wow, I would like to have my kids, I would like to have them as focused on what I am doing as they are on EYS right now." But come on, (chuckles), that's just because they don't have the same type of event that they are putting on. I think that if every teacher had that opportunity to do something like that (EYS), they would take that for sure.

JS. Yeah, that's something I hadn't considered. Well, what about after EYS event, did you witness any drawbacks long term?

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A2. No.

JS. Did you see and non-music benefits from participation in an EYS?

A2. Well, I'm a firm believer that kids need something to be attached to in their school and if that is the event that leads them into orchestra, which then makes their experience in school more positive, than that can only bring benefits for them.

JS. What surprised you about EYS?

A2. The enthusiasm of the kids. I always think of one particular senior that really rocked the electric violin. She, was very subdued, calm, fairly, just a very unique shy kind of kid and she just lost herself in that experience and that to me, I mean...it is exactly what you want to be a teacher for, to watch a kid truly lose themselves in your subject matter. Like, "I am so into this right now I am thinking of nothing else, all that matters to me right now is..." Kids were so present in the moment, they were so present in there and it was just magical for them.

JS. Did you have any concerns about the EYS program beforehand?

A2. No.

JS. Did you field any parent concerns before or after the EYS event?

A2. I did not.

JS. What was the general reception from the community?

A2. It was incredibly positive.

JS. Is there a specific story from your EYS that you think is relevant to this study that you would like to share?

A2. Well, that story about that particular student that I knew pretty well, that I had known for two or three years, to be a very different student, to see them come alive the way they did was a pretty special moment.

JS. Is there anything else you would like to add that you think is relevant to this study?

A2. I don't think so.

Parent 1

JS. Describe your music background.

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P1. I played piano from fourth grade to seventh grade. And then I was in band and played the clarinet from like all throughout middle school and high school.

JS. Where did you study. Did you study privately, and where at and with whom?

P1. Well, I didn't. Back when I went to school, believe it or not, even beginning band, everybody was in the same, just beginning band, so there were no private lessons. I only took private lessons for piano when I was little, and that was in Texas. But as far as my clarinet, I never took private lesson.

JS. Other than listening, what is your experience with popular music?

P1. Hmm, other than listening. That's pretty much it.

JS. Ok. I am going to list several different types of ensembles and you let me know if you have participated in them and briefly describe how you participated. Have you ever participated in a traditional orchestral ensemble?

P1. Okay, are you talking strings, or strings and band? Are you talking symphonic, or are you talking just strings?

JS. Either or.

P1. I have done, I have participated in a symphonic, again back in high school, I was in the youth orchestra, so it was both.

JS. Okay. Did you do any solo work?

P1. Middle school. I did solo and ensemble, you know, UIL stuff. It was mostly, "okay, you want to do it, then you are kind of on your own as far as practicing and deciding what you're going to do," so it was pretty much self-directed.

JS. Great. And did you do any non-traditional orchestra ensembles?

P1. Hmm. No, well. No, not orchestral. It was all very traditional music.

JS. On the band side, I am going to go on a little tangent. On the band side of things, did you do anything that was non-traditional band, that was outside the scope of a wind ensemble?

P1. In middle school we formed an ensemble and we played at the basketball games, so it was, just different. It wasn't like, you know, the traditional. It was, "hey, who all can come?" and we would just play popular music from the time, but it was for all the basketball games in middle school.

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JS. Before experiencing an EYS event for the first time, what was your view of popular music in the traditional orchestral ensemble?

P1. I had no idea the two of them went together at all. It just didn't, I mean, because my son was in middle school...he was in high school before we experienced EYS. And so, you know, he was in orchestra throughout middle school and you know, so pretty much the music that they played was very, pretty much traditional. A little bit of pop, but, maybe one or two songs every once in a while, but it just wasn't what I thought of when I thought of orchestra, you know.

JS. How did Mark and the EYS program alter that view, if any?

P1. Oh my God, are you kidding me? It's almost like I can't stop thinking about songs that could *unintelligible* into EYS music. Like I listen to music and I here rock and roll, or I hear pop songs, and I think "oh, would that make a good EYS song?" I mean, it is kind of like, I have totally made that transition of, that orchestra can be so much more than what it has been, and play all kinds of music. It's like there are no more borders, there are no more walls to orchestras.

JS. What was your first experience with EYS or Mark Wood?

P1. I was invited. My very first experience was my last year of teaching. I had one student invite me to a concert. They were...my middle school was participating and one kid asked me to come the day before the concert. The teacher hadn't advertised it or anything. I think she wasn't real sure how it was going to go over, so I took my son and my husband and we all went to the concert, and were just completely blown away by the experience, because it was so different.

JS. So, your first EYS event, your own child wasn't even a participant yet, is that correct?

P1. Right. What was interesting was that he was so ticked off at his teacher because he could have. They could have participated because it wasn't just one school, it was a couple of high schools, and several middle schools, so his school could have done it. He was like, "why didn't we do this. I can't believe we didn't do this." So the next year, he was like, "Okay, we're doing this. We should do this this year." So, kind of like my son talked the teacher into participating in EYS when we did it the next year.

JS. Describe your views of the EYS program before the first experience.

P1. I had no idea. I had never heard of it. And like I said, even the teacher that was doing the program at my school didn't advertise it or anything, so I was really clueless about all of it.

JS. Let's talk about your first experience with your own child involved. What excited you about the program and why?

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P1. Okay. I knew that he was going to have so much fun with it. Playing different music and, because down here, when they do it, the kids are standing up. Like even the cello players. Everybody is standing up and they are moving, so it's not, it doesn't even look like a traditional concert. Nobody is sitting, there are no music stands, and so there is so much freedom when they are playing. They could move and really react to the music, so I was really excited for him to participate, because I knew it was just going to be so different from anything that he had done before. And this was his tenth grade year, he was in tenth grade this time, so he had already been in orchestra since sixth grade. So four full years of traditional, so this, you know, I was just really excited.

JS. What made you uneasy about the program and why?

P1. I am trying to think of something. As a parent, and I am trying to think of as a parent, nothing really. I wasn't hesitant about him participating, I wasn't one of those parents that were like, "well, I wasn't real sure what it was going to do to his technique, or his skills." I knew that, I really believed it was going to open his eyes and his, and you know, I just felt that it was going to be challenging in a different way because of the different types of music that are played. So I wasn't uneasy about it. There was no time where I was like, "I don't know if he should do this or not." No, never.

JS. Would your views have been different if it was a classical European classical program?

P1. I would not have...It would not have been one of those situations where I was talking to him about it. If he wanted to do it, great, we would go to the concert, but I would not have been excited like I was. And... you know, we talked about it a lot. We spent the year basically leading up to EYS, "So tell me what you guys are playing." So we had lots of conversations about it, but I would always start the conversation. If it was traditional European classical music, I don't know that. I don't know that music. So I don't feel like I can really talk to him about that music, so, he tells me about it, but it is a very one sided conversation. With the music that the EYS plays, I felt like we could actually talk about it and have a conversation about it.

JS. What if it was Mariachi, Death Metal, Reggae music? Something you weren't familiar with instead of the classic rock music?

P1. That's a good question. Umm. I think I still would have been in favor of him trying different styles of music, different types of music to figure out what he likes. What he really gravitates towards, but I still don't think we would have had the conversations that we had, because I was familiar with the music they were playing because I am of that, you know, I am not that much younger than Mark, so I grew up with that same music and I love that music.

JS. Describe your views of the EYS program after experiencing it. Did anything change and why?

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P1. Okay, so now I am thinking about before. So do you want me to kind of think about before I even knew about EYS?

JS. Yeah, before you knew what it was.

P1. Got it. Well you know, I had no clue about it before. And then afterwards, my whole view about everything changed. Again, just the possibilities that were there. That my whole idea of what orchestra was or could be was just completely turned upside down and in a good way. It was like, "Oh my gosh, this is the coolest thing ever, to be able to experience."

JS. What do you believe was the benefit, if any, of your student participating in an EYS event?

P1. I really think, and this is kind of a different view than maybe some parents going in, because some parents think the music isn't difficult. I think the music, because of all the syncopation and the different phrasing of the music, that I think he got some skills out of playing some of those different kinds of beats and like I said syncopation. It is just different than orchestral. So I think he got some good skills out of it. I think it was very freeing for him to start improvising. He was always creating music, so he created music on his own in his room, but the idea of, "Oh, hey let's sit down and just improvise, you know, you do this and let me come with that," That came after EYS. So the willingness to improvise and be out there, be more, be a performer, be a little bit more of a performer instead of just sitting and playing. The skills, I feel like he got some new skills. I feel like he felt more comfortable improvising, more comfortable performing and I think that brought...I'll tell you what it also did, it also brought his orchestra closer together. It was weird, but it was like, I don't know, it was like a bonding experience for them, because they all wanted to do it and they all, so, it was really interesting that they just kind of really just came together after that first EYS.

JS. I know that your child has already graduated, but if afforded an opportunity, do you anticipate your student doing another EYS?

P1. Oh, yeah. If he could, he would. I mean he kind of is at Berklee. It's kind of like he is surrounded by that philosophy in college. In fact, for him, having going through EYS really did open his eyes to different opportunities, and I don't think he would have thought about Berklee without EYS. He would have stayed in state and gone someplace and majored in music, but I don't think he would have gone the direction that he went.

JS. And can you clarify which Berklee you're speaking of?

P1. Yes, Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

JS. Thank you. Would you encourage parents from other schools to participate in an EYS event?

P1. Every day, of every year. I tell parents all the time, all the time.

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JS. Before the EYS, what did you want as an outcome for your student?

P1. Before EYS, so just kind of like before I knew about EYS, or...

JS. Well, you have a unique view because you participated in an event before your student did, so after participating, going to that concert and seeing what it was, what was...what did you want as an outcome for your student knowing what it was like already?

P1. Well, again, my child is actually very classical. The music he listens to in the car is classical, he can tell me all these classical groups and the songs, blah, blah, blah. So he knows his classical music, so what I wanted for him was to be able to branch out of that and to be able to start to play around with different sounds that he could possibly get out of his cello. Different beats, different, you know, just different. I wanted him to be able to branch out and know other music and not just classical music.

JS. What benefits did you experience or witness during the EYS for your student?

P1. Just like during it?

JS. Yeah, the two-day workshop, or the three day...

P1. Yeah. Hmm. He was very excited and his, he and his friends were all volunteering to come help, or to go help at the theater. So they were very much a part of it, so it wasn't just, "oh, we're just going to show up and play,” it was, "we want to help you guys make this work." So they were volunteering. They came up...So there were actually two different concert nights. So they came up and helped the first night and then were helping to wrangle students. So it was like they rallied around the idea of making this successful and work by volunteering to work and do extra stuff to help make it successful. Instead of, like other concerts, just showing up and playing and going home.

JS. What about after the EYS. Were there any benefits you witnessed or experienced after the event?

P1. I know that he really did start to play around with trying to make different sounds with his cello. He ended up getting a pickup on his cello and an amp, and a couple of pedals. He keeps adding to his arsenal so that he's got his beautiful acoustic cello, but he's also got the cello with the pickup on it that he can play around and make, just create music using all kinds of equipment. So yeah, thank you, it's been an expensive trip! No, just kidding.

JS. What drawbacks did you experience or witness during the EYS for your student?

P1. Drawbacks? Let's see. Drawbacks? You know, it was kind of like the teacher had to have this epiphany himself of starting to choose this kind of music for other concerts. You know, it

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wasn't just this concert, you know. Some of the teachers in the district I saw, they participated and then they kind of just went right back to doing what they were always doing. And so, the drawback was, the teacher had to kind of...it took him a little time to figure out that he could and should incorporate all kinds of music into his program and not just be classical music. So it kind of took him a little while, so that was a drawback, maybe that changes didn't happen overnight with the program, with his school. Because my son would bring, would want to play new stuff or different stuff, and it took his teacher just a little bit, not too long, but like half a year before he was like really thinking like, "Oh, maybe we can do this, or we can play that," instead of just the normal everyday stuff.

JS. What surprised you about the EYS event?

P1. How excited the audience got. Because, *unintelligible*, I got so involved after EYS, and I retired, and I was like "How can I help?" because I so believed in the program that I wanted to help bring it to our school and other kids to it. The difference it made in my son as far as his attitude towards music and all kinds of music and his venturing out. So, when we planned it, I was really surprised that everyone got so excited about it, the whole audience. It just didn't get old as far as people say "Oh my gosh, this was great, we love it, we want to do it again." So, just kind of surprised at how excited everybody was.

JS. From your perspective as a parent, describe your students average concert season. You spoke about this a little bit. Earlier you said that it was mostly classical music with a few pop tunes. Is that accurate?

P1. Yeah, that's pretty accurate. And the pop stuff was mostly in middle school. And then after EYS, well this is before. Yes, before, high school was really, really classical. *Unintelligible*

JS. Okay. Is there a specific story from your EYS that you think is relevant to this story that you would like to share?

P1. You know, it's our whole story. It just blows me away. How, one student inviting us to a concert completely changed my son's life and changed me. Put both of our lives on this path. I totally, like I said, I very much believe without EYS my son would not be at a prestigious college of music, I would definitely not be an administrative director, you know, it was just that one moment in time, and how everything changed for us. And it is so profound that it is hard to put it into words. I get teary-eyed every time I think about it and the difference that Mark made. Okay, I have a story for you. The very first night that we went to that one concert, after the concert we stood in line to meet Mark. And, so he zoomed in on my son. "Hey, do you play?", and my son said, "Yeah, I play cello." "Well, did you guys participate tonight?" and he said "No, my school didn't." And, so Mark was like, "Well, I am going to be at this in-store tomorrow, so why don't you bring your cello and we'll jam?" Well, my son was just like, "Oh My God, What?" He was just blown away. So the next day we went to the in-store and everything that Mark had to say about the future of music and music education and where we

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should be going, it resonated with my son and he just kept looking at us like, "You see, this is what I'm trying to tell you all. This is exactly what I am talking about." So, if Mark hadn't...if Mark just stood there and said, "it's nice to meet you," and signed a thing, you know, like other people do, again, this wouldn't have happened, but Mark was invested in really talking to my son, and finding out, and inviting him to come play, that it was, that that was it. We were in. When he heard Mark talk, we were in, hook, line and sinker, we were done. We were an EYS family forever.

JS. Is there anything else that you would like to add that you think is relevant to this study?

P1. I just, again, because I think I was the parent, but I was also the parent volunteer, I know this is kind of different, but, I got to watch the change in the kids. Like I said, my son's orchestra just became more of a family after the EYS. They were more willing to step out of their comfort zone, and try music that they'd never tried before. You know, they were more willing to sight read, they were more willing to do things that the teacher had wanted them to do, but they always kind of fought it because they were afraid, and EYS helped them to not be afraid. It was just this freeing event for them. It, again, was just this profound experience. And it wasn't just my son's school, but because I got to work with other teachers in the district, they would say the same thing about their kids, and the difference. And I would hear from parents saying how their student, their child was thinking about quitting orchestra until they participated in EYS, and now they wanted to stay with it. Or kids who were going into high school and signing up to go to a certain magnet high school because they participated in EYS. So they were willing to go to this magnet school called Business Careers because the teacher was participating in EYS.

JS. That's interesting.

P1. Yeah, that's pretty profound. When another teacher moved to the high school, which is another magnet school, she had the same effect. Kids who were suddenly, "Oh my gosh. We can either go to engineering school, or we could go to Business Careers." And like another teacher said, the high school that her kids go to, they missed out because she had like half of her eighth graders sign up to go to one of the two magnet schools, because of EYS. And that he high school teacher didn't get those kids because he doesn't participate. So, I think that is pretty telling about the kids and where they were choosing to go to high school.

JS. Yeah, I agree.

Parent 2

JS. Describe your music background. For instance, what is your primary instrument, if any?

P2. None.

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JS. None, great. Other than listening, what is your experience with popular music?

P2. Shuttling my kids. I really, just listening.

JS. Alright. I am going to skip the next question since you don't play an instrument. Did you sing?

P2. I'm sorry?

JS. Did you ever sing in an ensemble?

P2. Yes

JS. Did you ever do solo work when you were singing?

P2. No.

JS. Small ensembles or just large ensembles?

P2. Small.

JS. Was it a self-directed ensemble or was it coached?

P2. It was coached.

JS. Did you do any non-traditional ensembles with your voice?

P2. Non-traditional being? It was church music, so...

JS. Question number 3. Before experiencing an Electrify Your Strings event, what was your view of popular music in the traditional orchestra ensemble.

P2. My view was wholly on what I had heard on popular music, so Trans-Siberian was probably the most related opening towards EYS.

JS. Ok, did you have a favorable view of using popular music in the orchestra, or not a favorable view?

P2. A very favorable view

JS. Ok, how did, if at all, did Mark and the EYS event alter your view?

P2. I wouldn't say that they had changed my view, I would say they enhanced my view.

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JS. Enhanced your view, great. What was your first experience with Electrify Your Strings or Mark Wood?

P2. My oldest daughter and youngest daughter, oldest first, was invited to join the EYS local group in Arkansas.

JS. Ok, so that wasn't a school program per say, it was like an extra-curricular program?

P2. You know it was through a high school in Arkansas, so it was an after school program, but really it was conducted at this high school and it used all of the high school equipment, and the students came right from class into the program. My daughter did not go to that high school, because she was home-schooled, but she was invited because they needed a keyboardist.

JS. Great. Describe your views of the EYS program before your first experience. For instance, what excited you about the program and why?

P2. I didn't really know anything about it, it was word of mouth. My oldest daughter was involved in a chamber music program and one of the instructors through that chamber music program also co-conducted the EYS, and he had been doing the keyboard work, and he said, "Hey, I know of this music program I think you would be a perfect fit, I know you're interested in that kind of music, if you're willing, they would like you to join."

JS. Was there anything that made you uneasy about the program and why?

P2. I just wasn't sure what it was. I would say the EYS program didn't make me uneasy at all, our first camp experience a little bit, but not EYS. (Participant is speaking of MWROC Music Festival)

JS. Ok. Question 6. Would your views have been different if it had been a traditional European classical program?

P2. Probably wouldn't have done it, honestly. We had really great programs closer to us and people we knew and we were involved more locally. This was over an hour commute to be involved in the program, so this was specifically because of the type of music.

JS. Ok. What if was mariachi or death metal, or something that you weren't familiar with as much as you were the rock music? Would your view have changed about the program? Would it have made you more uneasy or more willing?

P2. Would have made me less willing. Honestly I love classic rock and the fact that it was classic rock with orchestra interested me as much as it interested our girls.

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JS. Ok. Great. Describe your views of the EYS program after experiencing it. Did anything change and why?

P2. I definitely advocated for it at every opportunity I could afterwards. My kids had an awesome experience. They were involved in it for two different seasons, and of course camp for a couple of different years. For my older daughter, her opportunity to work with a professional keyboardist, two different guys because it was Sean the first year she was involved, but when she started working with Matt, Matt changed the complete course of her professional direction and I would say probably Matt more so than any other person she has had any formative contact with put her where she is at right now, and she is at the top of her field. so yeah, EYS. Go EYS.

JS. Thank you.

P2. I just think it opens opportunities that you don't typically have. You know, it’s not that Mark comes into town and you just happen to play with a great musician. You have real relationships that continue beyond just those couple of days they're in town. And they foster growth, you know, they foster musical growth and personal growth and yeah.

JS. Thank you.

P2. I am trying to get it here.

JS. Ok. I hope so. Do you anticipate your students doing another EYS program at any time? I know that they have graduated high school, but do you see them going to a local school and helping out at any time?

P2. I think that if they had opportunity to, or if they were asked to, and they could make it work with their schedule, absolutely, they would.

JS. Would you encourage parents from other schools to participate in EYS? You kind of already answered that question.

P2. 100 percent, yes!

JS. Before the EYS program, what did you want as an outcome for your student doing the programs? What was one of the goals, the outcomes you wanted?

P2. I think just a broadening of their perspective. You know my students were home schooled at the time that they first participated with EYS and the opportunity to meet knew students and to participate in a program under somebody they didn't know and really had no knowledge of. The teacher was brand new to us through this program and Mark and Laura were too with just that growth opportunity that was completely knew with no preconceived notions.

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JS. Ok. What benefits did you experience/witness during the EYS, during the actual event for your student?

P2. The second year that my oldest daughter was in EYS, they really gave her some opportunity to speak from the stage. You know, Arkansas is a huge program and she, they asked her to speak from the stage about how EYS had impacted her personally as she was getting ready to graduate from high school, going on to music school for college and eventually to grad school. I think that opportunity was huge, to know, tell people "hey, if you are thinking about doing this, absolutely you should give your child the opportunity, this opportunity has afforded me open doors I could never have imagined." And now it completely directed her professional career.

JS. To follow that, what drawbacks did you witness during the EYS for your student, if any?

P2. None for my student. I think over all for others, from an observing stand point as a parent I would say that um, you know that in like a lot of afterschool programs or extra-curricular programs parents can get so involved and so wound up in what their kid is doing, they go from their child experiencing EYS to their child is now going to be a rock star and that’s going to be their professional outcome, and I think there has to be some wisdom in there and other parents saying "this is a fun program to stretch, especially your string students, but it doesn't mean that they're going to be fronting for a rock band for the rest of their lives."

JS. Sure.

P2. It's just another way to look at music.

JS. What surprised you about the EYS program the first time?

P2. I really love the way the leaders let the kids shape the music a little bit. I mean, obviously they were teaching music and directing it very specifically, but really the shaping of the music and bringing the kids out in it so that I think if you saw the same set played at four different schools, you were see four completely different performances, and I love that about it.

JS. Great. From your perspective as a parent, describe your student's average concert season. I know that they were home schooled, but you mentioned the chamber music. So what type of music did they typically perform in those ensembles?

P2. It was classical. And they did the worship band at church, so that was contemporary Christian music.

JS. So did all of their concerts tend to be classical music? Did they do any pop concerts in those ensembles?

P2. No.

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JS. Is there a particular story from your EYS that you think is relevant to this study that you would like to share?

P2. I was thinking about that reading through your questions earlier. I think that the thing that really drew me in as a parent was to see where parents and school leaders intersected with the program. Because when you draw them in and they get involved and they get excited about it, it adds a whole other level of energy It’s just a buy in. When parents are bought in and when teachers are bought in it's not just somebody coming to town and doing this one-off thing that nobody has ever seen before. Now all the sudden you have a whole community going, "Yeah." I think that is unique and I think Mark and Laura are brilliant at bringing that out in communities that really collaborating and getting communities to come on board. And even where we have seen teachers that were somewhat reserved at their first exposure to EYS, you could see them, Mark and Laura, break down those barriers and by the end of several days, those were the teachers saying "Please, come back, please come back."

JS. Well said, thank you for adding that. Is there anything else you would like to add that you think would be relevant to this study?

P2. I would love to see the study when it is done, I would love to see what you come up with.

JS. I have a follow-up question I would like to do, a couple of them, that wasn't on the list. So, you had two students that participated in EYS?

P2. Yes.

JS. And how many EYS events did they participate in?

P2. They each participated in 2.

JS. Awesome, great. What were their instrumentation, what were they playing?

P2. One was a keyboardist and the other was a guitarist.

JS. Ok, just wanted to clarify that before we went on. You have a different perspective than my other parents will have because your students were home-schooled, and they came about it not through orchestral instruments per say, but instruments that are found in popular music already, so I wanted to clarify.

Laura Kaye

JS. What is your full name and title?

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LK. Laura Kaye. I am vice president of Electrify Your Strings, Mark Wood Music Productions, Wood Violins, MWROC Music Festival, and queen of the known universe.

JS. Describe your music background.

LK. I have always been a child of rock and roll. The first time I heard The Beatles was a life changing experience for me and I studied their approach to melody and harmony for years, training my ears to really hear all the intricacies. Unlike Mark, I have no formal music training. I learned everything on my own and by developing my ear. So my approach to teaching has that methodology as well. I am very much about instinct and ear and feel and emotion as opposed to the dots on the page. So I come at it from a slightly different viewpoint. Actually, my musical background is a polar opposite of how Mark was raised musically.

JS. What would you describe as your primary instrument?

LK. I am a vocalist primarily, but I do play guitar and write all my songs that way.

JS. You said you didn't have any formal music education, but were there any mentors along the way you would like to...that you studied with a little?

LK. Actually, my main mentor was an English teacher. I had tried out for my school choir and I was told that I couldn't sing so they stuck a clarinet in my hand and put me in the band. Which was so crazy, but, I sang anyway and refused to take that as anything to stop me from this thing that gave me such tremendous joy and I befriended an English teacher because I always wrote. I wrote lyrics, I wrote journals, I wrote poetry and this English teacher, his name was Mr. Robbins. He's still alive actually. He was just an incredible influence on me and really gave me a lot of lessons that kept me going in my life. He's responsible for giving me the phrase, "Make yourself like a temple and don't let anyone in unless they believe in you." which is something I share with the choirs that I work with quite a lot. And really gave me the strength and the support to stick to my dream and kept encouraging me. So if there was one mentor above all else in my career, in my initial career, it would be Mr. Robbins, my English teacher.

JS. Other than listening, what is your experience with popular music?

LK. Other than what? I am sorry.

JS. Other than listening, what is your experience with popular music?

LK. My experience with popular music, other than listening, well. I was in my first band when I was sixteen years old. Do you mean like that, performing?

JS. Yes.

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LK. Basically my first experience was performing at a local park, playing my own material on my guitar. I am not a very good guitar player, but I have always used it to write songs, and so my initial foray into the music world was with my original folk rock songs, and I had a friend who played bass and someone who played guitar with me, and we went and played this park on Long Island (NY). My mother found the advertisement in a local Penny saver magazine and signed me up without me knowing. She pushed me into something that I was petrified to do, but I owe her my life for that because it stretched my comfort zone to the limit, and I met a lot of people at that particular show who changed my musical life forever. There were people there from local recording studios who hired me, this little sixteen-year-old, to come in and sing background vocals for various things, and come write with them, and I joined various bands and just kept going and going. While, ultimately my songs were not the most popular things in the bands that I joined, I did become the lead singer and developed myself as a lead singer very quickly after that in just different bands and stuff between the ages of like sixteen and thirty, I suppose.

JS. As a student, did you participate in the traditional orchestra ensemble?

LK. No, because I do not play a string instrument. My only experience in a school music program was in the band. Because I tried out for the choir and they wouldn't let me in. I hated my school music programs. Today’s music programs are much more inclusive and multi-tiered in that they allow all interested students to join – regardless of ability – and then place them into appropriate ensembles. I believe that anyone interested in making music should be allowed to do so. As human beings, we need creative outlets.

JS. Talk about the beginning of EYS.

LK. Ahh. The beginning of EYS is something that speaks to how Mark and I have essentially lived our entire creative lives. When a door opens, we walk through it. And, EYS, the beginning of EYS happened when an orchestra director in Cleveland, Ohio approached Mark and asked him to help her create a rock orchestra, and asked him to build a double quartet of string instruments including an electric cello which we had never built before. And Mark, instead of saying, "I have never done that before, I am not going to do it," said, "Yes, of course I can do this." And it just came into being and we pretty much invented it on the spot. The very first Electrify Your Strings program was in Lakewood, Ohio, and including a 200-piece choir ranging from K-12, the entire Mark Wood Experience, and a fully integrated electric and acoustic orchestra. It's incredible to me, because the very first Electrify Your Strings experience was everything that we had ever envisioned Electrify Your Strings could be, even in its infancy. And of course we have grown the program by leaps and bounds since then, but it included so many elements, with the exception of the band element.

JS. Was that with the Lakewood Project with Elizabeth Hankins?

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LK. Yes, that was. And I came up with that name by the way. It wasn't called Electrify Your Strings back then. "Well, what should we call this?" So just for reference purposes while we were emailing back and forth, "Let's just call it the Lakewood Project." And so we called it the Lakewood Project, and they brought us back several years in a row. By the second year, Beth Hankins had told other people in Ohio about the program, and other schools started bringing us in, and that's when we realized we had to start calling it something. And Mark came up with Electrify Your Strings, which is the perfect title, and EYS makes so much sense. So now it's Electrify Your Strings, Electrify Your Band, Electrify Your Choir, Electrify Your Symphony when we have entire groups involved from every single kind of ensemble, and it has really grown into something beyond our wildest dreams at this point.

JS. What was the purpose, as you saw it, of EYS in the beginning?

LK. EYS in the beginning started off something to enhance an already existing orchestra program. As we went through it, we basically infused it with our own creative beliefs and how we led our own creative lives. Neither Mark nor I are teachers by profession. We didn't go to school to become teachers, we didn't take teaching courses, we are artists and we have been artists for our entire lives. And we've found that coming into the very first EYS program as artists and mentors was something that informed the entire direction of Electrify Your Strings going forward, because we could bring something very different to the table. Whereas for educators, there's a certain curriculum that you have to follow, as artists, there are no boundaries. And so we realized very quickly that by building on a foundation that educators were already using with their students to great success, we could create a bridge from classical music to contemporary popular music and give the kids something that made sense to them artistically and creatively.

JS. How has the purpose changed over the years, if any?

LK. I don't know that it has changed so much as it's constantly growing and what has happened as a natural outgrowth of Electrify Your Strings is the empowerment of all the young people that we work with. From the very first Electrify Your Strings we ever did to now, you can see the light bulbs going off over the heads of these kids. Whether they're singers, or string players, or band kids, the connection they are able to make between their instruments and their own personal creative self is quite something to watch. And I have always told people that Electrify Your Strings, even though the kids perceive it as, "hey, we're just doing this great rock concert, with lights and sound and we're jumping around and expressing ourselves, and moving and dancing and playing music that we have never played before," and giving themselves this great sense of freedom, the educational subtext is that, through music, by giving these kids a creative outlet to be who they are, they can take those skills to every other aspect of their lives and every other subject in school and everything else that they do in their lives. America is constantly complaining these days about the lack of creative thinkers, and that's because our music and arts programs are being cut at an alarming rate. How can you breed creative thinkers without music and arts programs? So when Mark and I come to town, we not only empower the students that

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we work with, but we try to empower the communities with the knowledge that keeping these programs in place is going to create stronger, smarter and more creative young people who will hopefully go out into the world and make change.

JS. You currently use traditionally notated music. Has EYS always been this way.

LK. Yes. We provide music to the schools that we work with several months before we arrive. They're all Mark's arrangements or our original material and our own vocal arrangements or string arrangements. Everything is enhanced with our own creative fingerprint so to speak. But we use that only as a basis. Both Mark and I are constantly talking about getting the kids away from the dots on the page, because, while they of course have to learn those dots on the page in order to know what they are playing with technical accuracy, what we do is less about technical accuracy and more about personal creative expression. So we have to have that foundation of notated music in order for kids to make the connections, to leap off that page into the pretty much limitless creative universe that is out there.

JS. You spoke briefly earlier about EYS kind of just being a door that opened. When you did that first event, why did you and Mark go, "Yes, we need to continue this." What caused you to continue with EYS instead of just making a guest appearance so to speak?

LK. Well, partly the success of the very first one was so overwhelming to all of us. Not only the teachers involved, but the students and the community and of course Mark and me. It was a lightbulb moment for both of us that there is a need for this out there. This is something that no one else is doing in schools anywhere. As we were starting to think about, "well, how do we get the word out about this," it just sort of happened where again, the teachers were telling other teachers and then, it was like that old commercial, "and they'll tell two friends, and they'll tell two friends, and they'll tell two friends." And EYS essentially started as word of mouth. We got our next booking based on the success of the first booking. And then that booking turned into two more bookings, which turned into ten more bookings, which turned into twenty more bookings, which opened the door to us attending string conferences around the country like the American String Teachers Association conference. And now we go to the Texas Music Educators conference. TMEA and ASTA have been huge events for us where Mark has done clinics and performances that have gained a lot of attention and exposure for what we do. But really, the most important thing has been word of mouth. Teachers talking to other teachers, extolling the virtues of what Electrify Your Strings has done to their programs with regard to recruitment and retention, which are the two major buzz words that you well know as an educator are so important to keeping your program alive and healthy. When you have a kid’s attention, when you have them excited, you can keep them going. And we have seen, without fail, every single string program, and choir program we have worked with has grown once we have visited. And it has been quite an astonishing, wonderful thing. It is a real self-sustaining program. EYS is the musical gift that keeps on giving.

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JS. That leads very nicely into my next question. How has the program evolved over the years in respect to size and scope?

LK. Well, we have more and more. We do Electrify Your strings with small groups, with large groups, everything in between. I've worked with choirs as small as ten kids and as large as 1300. The very largest Electrify Your Strings event that we ever did was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota a couple of years ago, with 3000 kids. 1300 choir kids, 700 string players, 800 band kids, roughly, with every single artist/mentor on our team. In fact, that particular event caused us to hire even more people, because Mark and I, obviously, couldn't do it all on our own. So we brought in two band people, we brought in every string player that we could think of who was on the same page as we were artistically and creatively. Of course we trained them in our methods. I had two additional vocal coaches and we have a choreographer. So that event was in an arena in front of 15,000 people, completely sold out. And these kind of massive county wide, district wide, events seem to be happening more and more and more. We are doing three of them this coming year with three or four counties. Pickens, South Carolina. We just did a six school event in St. Cloud, Minnesota. It was 175 kids on stage. Totally packed theater. It's just, we're seeing...we actually take a lot of our direction, believe it or not, from teachers. Because our message to you guys is, Electrify Your Strings can be tailored, and should be tailored, to your specific needs. So if you have a vision, let's talk about it and we will help make that happen. And that has been happening more and more. And those things have given us ideas for how to present ourselves. We do holiday shows now. Gigantic holiday shows with all of these kids, where, you know as an educator, you do an annual holiday show anyway. But imagine an Electrify Your Strings holiday show which is so different and so unusual and so much more energizing and exciting.

JS. How has the music evolved over the years?

LK. The music is still based in classic rock and American styles, because Mark and I believe that the real bridge from the classical world to the contemporary world is the vast history of American music. From blues to early rock and roll, to current rock and roll. And when we choose contemporary music, we make sure to choose these songs with an eye towards classic contemporary songs. So, in other words, not a current radio hit that is going to come and go, but something...a song like "Uptown Funk,” which we don't do right now, but we should. I have been pushing for it. "Uptown Funk," is something that people are going to remember twenty years from now. It is a classic contemporary song. "Crazy Train," by Ozzy Osbourne is never going to go out of style. So we try to give that message to the kids and to the teachers that work with them, that there is traditional classical music and then there is classic rock and classic contemporary, which is just a different style, but it's no less important. In fact, in our view, it is of equal, if not more so because it is going to keep the interest of the young musicians that we work with. But we are constantly evolving and changing our song choices and every year we keep adding new material. We keep an eye out towards new things. Our new thing the last few years is doing mash-ups from artists. From Stevie Wonder, to Prince, to last year we did a mash- up of Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson that we debuted at our annual rock orchestra camp that

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you know well, and then... We use our rock orchestra camp as a laboratory for EYS. And then we take that material and the entire following EYS season, we do all of those songs. And it just keeps growing. Our library keeps growing and sometimes we go back to the early material, but's it’s stuff that never really goes out of style.

JS. You spoke earlier about additional programs you have started. I just want to clarify and make sure I have them all correct. So you started out with Electrify Your Strings, but choir has always been a portion of that, Electrify Your Choir. Electrify Your Band and now Electrify Your Symphony. Are there any more?

LK. No, that's pretty much, I think.... Well, actually, to be honest, we are looking into developing a Mariachi version for states like Texas and states that have large Mariachi components. So that's something new on the horizon that we are working with Haydn Vitera on developing and making that. Imagine an Electrify Your Strings Mariachi version. I think it would be super cool. But we are always keeping our eyes open to what all of this could be. The choreography component is something that just sort of happened a number of years ago. I have always used choreography with the choirs. Simple choreography. I used it as a workshopping tool and had the students that I worked with help create the choreography. Until I met a choreographer who has helped focus that even more. And now when budgets permit, we bring that person in to help focus the choir with movement. And the orchestra. We do orchestra and movement programs as well, because string players typically are not used to moving. Recently we did a program where there was a teacher who said to Mark, "Well, we never move in orchestra." Well, and now we are going to, because by moving and by getting these kids more fluid with their movement it is only going to help their playing, in our opinion.

JS. You spoke of other artists earlier. How many other artists do you currently have with the Electrify your programs?

LK. That's a good question. Let's see. I think there are about eight of us all together. When we did the Sioux Falls version, we had three string artist/mentors, three choir artist/mentors, plus, our choreographer, so that’s four, and two band people. So four, fix, six, seven, eight, nine. Nine all together including Mark and me. As we are....in fact, now we have ten. We just added a cellist. We just added Greg Byers who did his very first EYS with us this past weekend in Minneapolis and with tremendous success. So Greg is going to be a brand new EYS artist/mentor as well.

JS. Describe your portion of the EYS workshop, the choir portion. How many days, how many concerts for a typical workshop?

LK. The choir portion is very much based on the orchestral portion, where I come in and I will work with the choirs for the first day, from anywhere from three to five hours. I begin with a

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movement portion to get them moving and get them comfortable. I'll sometimes just play a random song that they know and get them dancing and singing, not on the risers, but just loosened up so they can, excuse me, so that they understand that what we are doing is not typical what they do in choir. The very first thing that I tell all the choirs that I work with is that I want them to think in terms of transforming themselves from a traditional choir to a rock and roll choir. And in my world what that means, and what I have created is, having these kids think in terms of being lead singers and owning the spot light. Whether there's ten kids singing, or a thousand kids singing, if you have each of them singing with their own unique voice, it's going to create a sound that's different from anything you've ever heard before. Whereas traditional choir is...I've seen signs on choir walls that say, "If I can hear you, you are singing too loud," and I come in and it's like, "If I can't hear you, you're not doing it right." So, I want to hear people and I want to hear their own power. And it's not a volume thing. It's about expression and emotion and how to say things with every color at your disposal. As a singer we carry our instruments around in our bodies, so a large part of what I do is focused on getting these kids to move, to shout, to show the expression of their faces when they sing. To use their hands and their legs and their limbs and their whole bodies to create something very special. And create their instrument and use their instrument to full capacity. But it is very similar. The message that I give to the choirs is very similar to the message that Mark gives to the kids. It's a rock and roll concert. It's not a school concert, and we're trying to shift their perceptions of what it is that they are actually doing. So, yeah, that's pretty much what I do.

JS. That first day. Is that completely separate from the orchestra, that first day?

LK. Well it used to be on the first day... The way that we used to structure it was the first three hours of the first day, or the first half of the first day, the choir would be on our own. The second half of the day we would join the orchestra on the stage. That's happening less and less because I want to have as much time as I possibly can with the choirs to workshop with them doing improv workshop stuff and acting, even...we're all actors as singers, and the more time I have with them on day one, the more effective it is on day two. Having said that, there are still sometimes that maybe in the last hour or the last 45 minutes of day one, we'll bring the choir in to work with the orchestra. But I have been finding more and more that keeping the choir and the orchestra completely separate on the first day seems to be the most successful. And then the second day, which is our dress rehearsal, we really put it together. We run through everything and go through it. But it really depends. It depends on the school, the amount of time we have, the scheduling, how much material. Generally, the choir portion is roughly half of the show. So, where the orchestra will do a total of nine or ten songs, the choir portion will be four or five and will be the finale. We're always part of the finale because it just elevates the excitement level and the energy level on stage. So everyone is involved on stage on the finale. But it does vary. It used to be that we would do half of day one and then put it together, and now we just sort of see how it is going and let the groups dictate our schedule a little bit. Things are less flexible than they used to be.

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JS. How many schools have hosted an EYS program? When I speak of EYS, I'm talking about the entirety of what you guys have evolved into.

LK. Since the beginning?

JS. Since the beginning.

LK. That's something I don't have the exact figures of, but I think our office manager would. We actually did put this together. If I have to venture a guess, on average we visit between fifty and seventy schools a year, and we are in our eighteenth year. Now the first few years were two to three to five to ten, so, we have to do a rough estimate there, and I am not a good mathematician, but I'm thinking maybe the first three to five years had anywhere from one to ten schools, and then we really grew to thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy schools, with multiple artist/mentors crossing the country. But I can get our office manager to get you that number, tomorrow.

JS. Okay. I am going to ask you one more math question. Estimate how many students the EYS program has impacted.

LK. That's another good one. I don't know if I can give you an accurate number, but it's got to be hundreds of thousands. If you think in terms of each program will have anywhere from fifty to a thousand kids, it's very hard to say, but let me see if I can get our office manager to get me a better estimate of that. Somewhere those numbers exist. I don't know with complete accuracy, but, we say hundreds of thousands, and I think that's pretty accurate.

JS. What is your vision for the future of EYS?

LK. I would like to see it continue with a constantly evolving roster of artist/mentors who bring their own individual artistry to the program. For example, one of our artist/mentors is a woman named Val Vigoda. Val Vigoda is a unique artist in that, not only is she an accomplished Viper player and string player, but she is also an incredible singer with a musical theater background. Now I do not have a musical theater background, so what she brings to the table is vastly different than what I do. So my vision would be, if the school brings me in one year to do what I do, maybe the following year, they can bring Val in to do an entire musical theater component, which will give the kids a very different outlook. And any time you examine music from every possible direction is when you're going to grow. So the more we continue to add artist/mentors who bring their own skills and their own style, the more the program will grow. We have schools that.... we have a school in Kentucky, who has brought us in for, I think, close to ten years in a row. And one of the things that keeps that program so relevant is that every single year we give them a completely different experience. One year, they'll bring Mark, the next year they'll bring Mark and me, the next year they'll bring Haydn, then they'll bring Sarah, then they'll bring this one. This year we're going to try to get them to bring Greg, our cellist. So, they love it because every single year it's different artist. We try to tailor the music

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to what those artists are most comfortable playing and teaching, and we try to encourage the artist/mentors we work with to either use their own material, or to tell us the songs they like the most, and then we do arrangements of those songs, so that each EYS experience you get with each different artist/mentor will give you something different. So, Mark generally likes to focus on more classic rock type of stuff. Someone like Sarah Charness likes more contemporary and more pop and even more dance. We're trying to work on arrangements of songs that...Sarah does a lot of dance music and hip hop and things like that, so we really want to bring that element in as well. The more we expand our music, the more schools will continue to have the confidence to bring us back as an experience that will constantly evolve and grow every single year that they bring us back. I don't know what's happening, and I don't know if Mark mentioned this, and I don't know that you have a question to ask this, but I want to throw this in there while it just jumped into my head. We've been doing this for eighteen years at this point and what is starting to happen is we're getting called by people that we met when they were in middle school, who have now gone through college and the university level, and they're music educators themselves, and now as their very first task as a music educator, they bring Electrify Your Strings into their school. So it's coming full circle. We are seeing kids that we worked with bringing us in as teachers, and it's an incredible feeling and they of course are infusing their orchestra programs with all the things that they learned when they were in middle school and high school studying with Mark and me. It's an incredible feeling. I don't know where you can put that, but that's a very important thing to mention, that after all these years of doing it, these are the things that are starting to happen, and its mind blowing.

JS. I agree. What do you hope remains at a school that has participated in an EYS after you leave?

LK. I would hope that the educators continue using our methods to help with whatever music they are currently working on. Because our methods can be applied in a classical setting, in a traditional setting. Any time you empower a kid to feel the music instead of just playing technically the dots on the page, you're going to turn out an orchestra filled with musicians and not technicians. There is a very, very big difference. To be a musician is a whole other animal than just being a simple technician. And I have had many teachers who have told me from the choir perspective that...one of my exercises is having the students speak the lyrics and have them speak them conversationally so that they really understand the meaning behind what it is they are singing. And when they do that, it becomes easier for them to connect the, just sing the notes to singing the story to the song. As a player, it's the same thing. As a string player, a string player is such...violin, viola, cello, bass are such expressive instruments, and if you put your soul and your body into that, no matter what kind of music you're playing, you will be a musician. But I have had many choir directors tell me that they use the methods even in the classical music that they are doing as far as getting their kids moving, getting them expressing and understanding what it is that they are singing instead of just singing the dots on the page. And it's the same thing with the orchestra people. It's quite something. It's quite something to see. Many schools,

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we highly encourage the schools we work with to continue using our methods and to keep in touch with us if they have any questions. We don't want Electrify Your Strings to be a one- off. We don't want to just come in and do it and then leave and see you later and nothing ever comes from it. We want these teachers to continue implementing our methods because by doing that we truly believe that their programs will have continued success and recruitment and retention.

JS. What surprised you about the EYS program?

LK. What surprised me? It's a happy surprise, although not unexpected. When we see kids who might be the ones in their class that are constantly told by their teachers, "Be quiet, stop moving, don't do this, don't do that." Under our tutelage, steps to the front of the stage and does everything that they've previously been told they couldn't do in class, and give themselves freedom, and watch what happens to their faces. That's a happy surprise to me. To see a kid transform and start to understand who they are and what they are capable of contributing to the world, not just as a musician, but as a human being. And it really, that to me is the happiest surprise. And seeing teachers go on and develop their own programs based on what we do. People who've gone completely out of the box of their orchestra programs and they are creating rock orchestras on their own, and sustaining them and making them audition based, and creating an entirely new orchestra program continuing orchestra program, based on our visits and what tools we have given them to work with. That's been a very happy surprise.

JS. Are there any EYS stories, and I am sure you have many, so maybe just one or two, that you would like to share that you believe are relevant to this study?

LK. Yes. Let me think about that because there are a billion. Here's one. We were in Sioux Falls and one of the schools we were visiting was more of a Title 1 type of school and these kids, they had nothing. The schools had nothing. These kids, you could tell there were a lot of burdens that they were all functioning under the weight of. And I always walk into...whatever choir situation I walk into, I scan the room. I always scan the room and I look for the kids that have a spark. Now, everyone has a spark, but there are some who spark a little more than others. There are some who, when I come in, you can tell they are so hungry for something, anything, that they are just right with you from the start. There was a girl, I can't remember her name, but there was a girl in Sioux Falls, and she had long dark hair and kind of a goth look and she was kind of sitting by herself, and she was all on her own. And her posture, she was sort of slumped over, and we came in and we started dancing with the kids and doing this, and I am watching her change. Her posture changed first, and then she started singing, then we started calling the kids up to do some exercises and I chose her. And she looked around, and she was like, "me?" and she didn't want to do it at first. So I pulled her up and I was like, "You got this, you can totally do this," and I don't even remember what the exercise was that we were doing. And she completely owned it. By the end this child whose face when I walked in was

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just...she had a sort of defeated look on her face. By the end of the entire program, she was a success. I gave her a solo. I gave her a chance to stand at the front of the stage and own the spotlight, and it transformed her. And she still stays in touch with me on Facebook and sends me messages and tells me that she thinks about our visit all the time and it gives her strength. Those are the kind of stories that just make me cry because, I was that kid. I was bullied, I was miserable in school. I was painfully shy, and I never had an opportunity to pull out of myself. I pretty much had to do it on my own. When I come into a school and I see a kid who different and maybe, just a little outside the box, I pull them right in because I know these kids need the most encouragement to be themselves. But I have so many stories of just watching kids transform from just singing the notes to singing the song, to having that light bulb moment. There's no greater gift to me as an artist, to see that lightbulb moment when it happens over a kid’s head. Like, "Oh my god, I can do this." To transform a kid who's like, "I'm nervous, I'm nervous. I can't, I can't," to, "I'm excited, I'm excited. I can, I can." My god, what a gift that is. And if they can do it in a musical environment, they can do it in anything. And once you push this child to the boundaries of their comfort zone, then they can take that next step on their own, and they continue taking those steps until they have no boundaries. And that's what we are trying to create in these people. But let me think of some more stories and maybe I'll e-mail a couple to you later today.

JS. That would be great.

LK. But there are plenty. We have gotten letters from kids whose teachers were telling us they had tried to commit suicide. We came to town and all of the sudden they have a renewed passion for life. These are the things that, we understand what a responsibility we have with these kids and we are very careful with them. But those are life changing things to hear as an artist/mentor. To come to town and in 48 hours, take a kid who's been threatening to take their own life, and give them hope and give them a platform that, maybe, just maybe will give them the strength to carry on and continue. I know for me, music saved my life. I lost my dad at a very young age and emotionally it was very difficult for me and I didn't think I was going to survive it. If it wasn't for my song writing and my singing and constantly expressing. These are the things I used as music therapy for myself. And so I understand how important and therapeutic music is really for everyone. I take the responsibility very, very seriously when I work with these kids. I know how hard it is to be a teenager. I remember my teenage years with vicious clarity, and, these days it's harder than ever. With the internet and with people judging their own self-worth based on how many likes they get on certain posts, and trying to shift their perceptions to, it isn't based on that. You have to become so strong in who you are that nobody can shake you off that pedestal. If I can give them those tools and help give them those tools, it's an incredibly gratifying thing.

JS. One final question. Is there anything else you would like to add that you think is relevant to this study?

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LK. I would like to see music education change in our country. I would like to see... Well, as Mark has been working on his curriculum, which I believe is going to be released sometime this year, I would like to see more and more schools implement that and more and more symphony orchestras around the country realize that, by incorporating programs such as ours, it will keep their programs relevant. It will keep their audiences in their seats. I will gain community support. But really what I would like to see is, I would like to see our country recognize the importance of the arts in our educational curriculum. Turning S.T.E.M. into S.T.E.A.M. is the most important message we could ever give. Funding the arts with the same kind of intensity which sports are funded with, that everything else is funded with, would be something that I think will change the course of America's history.

JS. Wonderful. Thank you so much Laura.

After stopping the recorder at the end of the interview, and before ending the conversation, Laura asked me to turn on the recorder again because she remembered a story she really wanted to tell me.

LK. Okay, this is another story that I wanted to add. Something that completely blew me away and that the power of this student and the strength of this student exhibited *unintelligible* and affected me. It was a school district. I don't even remember where it was or where it was. I don't remember if it was Texas or if it was Michigan? It was a title one school and I remember the teachers taking me aside saying that most of these kids either had one parent or no parents or were living with other family members or foster families. That parents were in and out of jail and just a lot, a lot of stuff that the kids were struggling with at home and that music of course gave them the outlet that they needed in so many ways. But there was this young boy, I think he was thirteen years old who I had chosen to be one of my soloists, and he wasn't the greatest singer on the planet, but he had such incredible energy and I could tell from the very minute that I walked in, I had this kid in the palm of my hands, and he was right up front, dancing and spurring everyone on and yelling at the kids who were talking and being disruptive and he was right there. So the morning of our concert, and I didn't find this out until after. Well, two things happened. He was telling me the day that we were rehearsing that his mother never comes to see his concerts, never ever comes, he was hoping that she would come, but he said, "She probably won't. I really wish she could see me sing and see what you have me doing as a soloist on this stage." And I said, "Whether she comes or not, know that I am proud of you. Mark is proud of you. We're all so proud of you. We think you're doing an incredible job." Well, we go through dress rehearsal, we go through the concert, everything is great. At the end of the concert, this boy comes up to me and two things. The first of all, the teacher comes up to me and says... You're probably going to have to re-write this because I am jumping around a little bit. The teacher comes up to me and says that that morning this kid's dad was arrested for selling drugs. Rather than not coming to the show, he was insistent on coming to the show. This kid had to pour himself into his music to get out whatever frustration he was feeling into his song, into what he was singing, into how he was moving. And he gave the most incredible, moving performance that night. Now I didn't know anything about his dad and that happening. The even

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more incredible thing was after the show, his mom came up to the front of the stage, and this kid was like, "my mom came to the show, has never come to see one of my shows before." And she came up and just, we all hugged each other. It was just quite a moment, that this family, going through all these things. This boy exhibiting such strength, where he could have been like, "my dad just got arrested this morning. I can't sing, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't." was, "I can, I can, I can, and I am going to use this and use this moment and use this platform to get out every single bit of emotional stress that I am feeling and pour it into my performance. And that to me was the epitome of every lesson I try to teach every choir kid that I work with is, pour your emotion into your song, into your performances and it will change you and it will change the audience and when you are your most authentic self, the audience will feel you and they will understand and they will applaud you from the roof tops.

JS. Great. I am glad you added that.

Mark Wood

JS. What is your full name and title?

MW. Mark Wood, owner, operator and inventor of Electrify Your Strings music educational program and inventor of the electric string movement.

JS. Describe your music background.

MW. Julliard trained. Worked at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein. Strong family connection to music. All of my brothers are professional string players. Strong classical background and then right after Julliard, immediately moved into reinventing the way people think about a bowed stringed instrument. Which funny enough, it still astounds me, it is probably the oldest instrument over any other instrument from clarinet, to trumpet, to piano that we start about four or five hundred years ago. And that instrument, to this day, continues to be a very much a part of what we do in orchestras. But equally important, if not more important, expanding the horizons of the possibilities of a bowed stringed instrument into an almost infinite way of expression, expressing not just classical music, but all styles of music, from Indian music to fiddling, to jazz, hip hop, to rock and roll and country music.

JS. What would you consider your primary instrument to be?

MW. The seven string Viper.

JS. Okay. And where did you...You spoke of Julliard. Is there someone in particular that you studied with that you would like to mention?

MW. Yes. Lillian Fuchs, William Lincer, Walter Trampler and Paul Doktor were premier violists. I was actually a viola player at Julliard.

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JS. Other than listening, what is your experience with popular music?

MW. From very young, listening to the Beetles and Led Zeppelin, to forging a forty-year career in a non-classical career of primarily a rock style musical career.

JS. As a student. I am going to list several ensembles, and you can tell me if you had participated in those as a student and describe your participation. As a student did you participate in a traditional orchestral ensemble?

MW. All the time. All the youth orchestras and string competitions. Myself and my family were always involved in New York.

JS. As a student did you do solo work?

MW. Yes. Concertos and assorted other ensemble pieces. Chamber music to full symphonic.

JS. When you did solo work and small ensemble work, was it self-directed or was it coached? Was it the Master/Apprentice model?

MW. It was coached. The traditional model of having a coach and a conductor.

JS. And as a student did you do any non-traditional orchestral ensembles?

MW. No.

JS. Talk about the beginning of EYS, of the Electrify Your Strings program.

MW. Absolutely Jeremy. And by the way, you can still hear me okay right, because I am in the gym?

JS. Yes, I can hear you very well.

MW. Okay. Yeah, the treadmill is making a lot of noise, I hope you can hear me.

JS. I can hear you, I don't hear the treadmill.

MW. Good. What was that question again?

JS. Talk about the beginning of the Electrify Your Strings program.

MW. Well, I was touring with my band, The Trans-Siberian Orchestra, twenty years ago. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra did a performance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for educational purposes. And no one in the band could put together a sentence coherently in front of an

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APPENDIX C (continued) audience, so I grabbed the microphone from the guitar player and took over explaining what the Trans-Siberian Orchestra does. After which a High School string teacher came up to me and asked for me to put together an electric string orchestra in her program in Cleveland, and that was the beginning of this whole movement. It was the very first one. And I wrote music for it, we built instruments for them, integrating technology, improvising and American styles with the traditional orchestral setting. And from that point on, we went from one Electrify Your Strings program and now we are several hundred a year.

JS. Was that the impetus of the Lakewood Project?

MW. That is correct.

JS. And was that first one officially Electrify Your Strings at that point. Had you titled it yet, or was just, this is what we are doing this time?

MW. We titled it soon thereafter, but Jeremy, absolutely that first time, I literally had no interest in going back in a school environment because my Julliard experience was a very much isolating, disconnected experience from the real world. So schools had no interest with me. None whatsoever. Teachers, string teachers, they were all antiquated, nothing interesting going on. It was a box that we couldn't get out of. This first program with the Lakewood Project changed everything because I saw the energy and the commitment and the high school energy of being innovative. Because once they left high school, colleges and symphony orchestras are pretty much, you know, very old, traditional, and antiquated. But in high school these kids were so wonderful, so engaged with what I was doing, it hit me immediately, like, "man, this is where we need to be." Also, in addition to leading up to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra premier, we need to be empowering orchestras and strings in the United States. And that's really how it began.

JS. What did that first event look like? I know now you come in you do typically two days of rehearsal and then a performance. Did it follow that same format the first time?

MW. Yes, it did. And I also incorporated my live band, because the school had a drummer and a bass player, guitar player. So we had two live ensembles on the stage, a full choir, and strings. So again, we started off pretty much molding the formula very quickly because I saw where we needed to rehearse. And another important ingredient Jeremy was bringing media in. Every two hours we had another T.V. station filming us, and newspaper, and that really helped get the word out to the community that we were doing something exciting and new. And then all the grants and the funding piled in. So there was never an issue about financial stability for this new program, which requires, by the way, a full sound system, a truck to carry all the gear, and also buying the instruments and my music from me. So, right out of the gate is was tremendously successful.

JS. Okay. I think you spoke on this a little bit earlier, but I am going to ask again. What was the purpose, as you saw it, of the Electrify Your Strings program in the beginning?

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MW. There really wasn't. A door opened, that I did not plan on walking into, and I had no interest. It intrigued me when a teacher approached me and within a couple of weeks of talking with them, it turned into a firestorm of excitement and energy on our end, and it just catapulted, possibly what I had been repressing in my psychology, in my psyche, about education. Because again, I'm Julliard, so we are very separated from the normal string people. You know we were pulled, I was pulled out of high school, I never graduated high school. I was separated from the standard string program, because we didn't have a really good one where I grew up. So the Lakewood Project, it brought me back to what I really did love, which empowering young thinkers. Because again, what we are doing is stimulating to think differently and to change perceptions, and I think that is a critical learning moment for students that should not feel like they are trapped in the way they express themselves, but see it as an infinite roadway to expressing themselves through their music.

JS. How had that purpose changed, if any, over the years?

MW. It has not changed at all. If anything, it has gotten more passionate because we have seen so many success stories and we have witnessed, because again, you know in life, you try something and you don't know if it is going to impact anybody. You don't know if anyone is going to be interested in it. You just don't know. A large percentage of creative endeavors are a dead end, so after all these years, it astounds me continuously, you know, for the rest of my life, every time I walk into a room with hundreds of young musicians, it is a fireball of energy, commitment to music making, and a laboratory. I think that is a really applicable word for what Electrify Your Strings is. It's a laboratory to experiment, and that's where creativity comes from, and creativity must be the centerpiece, the epicenter of our music programs. Not the pedagogy as much, not as much the technical aspect of it, but equally important; creativity.

JS. You currently use traditionally notated music. Has EYS always been this way?

MW. Absolutely. That's one thing that was important to show to the teachers. Case in point Jeremy, the ASTA president, Brenda, ASTA president of the international String Teacher's Association, walked up to me and said she loved specifically what I do because of the high level of musicianship and discipline that spill and exude in our programs. The level of musicianship that I exude traditionally with notation is critical because 99% of string teachers are very well trained. If I come in there with sloppy arrangements or sloppy musical content, the door is shut closed. So we always try to maintain the highest level of expertise in our musical language.

JS. Okay, we spoke briefly why you started the Electrify Your Strings program. I'm going to ask you a kind of personal question, and you can answer if you want, or leave it as it may, but why leave what by all appearances seemed a lucrative and enjoyable career with Trans-Siberian Orchestra to run Electrify Your Strings full time?

MW. That is not a difficult question at all. After years and years, gosh over twenty years of performing in arenas and in front of 15,000, 20,000 people, I couldn't see anybody. It was just

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darkness. I could maybe see the front row, so I didn't feel like I was connecting on a deeper level. Because in the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, you know, we are competing with lasers and lights and fires and strobes, and all the other stuff, which is awesome, but after 20 years, I was like, "You know, I need to make a bigger impact," by flying everywhere and mentoring is something I'm feeling is so critical in our success. We physically go to where you are and we bring the best team available so that we are overseeing and mentoring not only the teachers, but the students and the community and the parents, to what the mission is. Because the mission is not just a two-day event. The mission is to elevate, empower and to grow the program so that ten years down the road the music program is that much stronger.

JS. Why use popular music instead of something more accepted like fiddle music?

MW. Oh, that's a provocative question. Oh my goodness, I thought you were going to say instead of fiddling, classical music. But you’re talking country music?

JS. Yeah. The fiddle style or any down south, the Mariachi style, something that is a little more...why use the rock music?

MW. Right, and I think that's an excellent question and something that we don't talk much about. As you know there are several ways of playing the violin. In country music and fiddling, there is a certain style that makes it sound like a fiddle. There are certain techniques that make a violin sound like Heifetz, the Tchaikovsky violin concerto. Two very different techniques, right? And with fiddle music, the flavor, the flavor of fiddle music you know, has a slight sort of twang to it, it is slightly out of tune, sorry country fiddlers, and there is finger sliding and you are pretty much in first position most of the time unless you're really a master fiddler around your instrument. So the technique if very different than classical tradition, and I think that our classical tradition...I think the question really is, how our classical traditions can be transferred into other world styles. The better you can play and control the instrument, the more music styles you can play. I can play Indian music, but I'm not going to sit down on the floor like a traditional Indian violin play, and put the scroll on my foot. I'm not going to do it, but I can do it using my classical technique of controlling my hands. So with the background of classical training, I find that is the best backbone to feed right into popular music, and especially rock. You know there is an interesting debate over, "Well, let's get a fiddle group together, or let's get a jazz group together," and they don't talk about rock or pop, and I really believe that rock and pop complement our classical training in such a better way because the technique, the eighth notes, the rhythm structures are relatively similar. When you’re doing the jazz thing, the jazz feel is very different, a very different way of bowing, and rhythmically. Fiddling is a real specific style, but classical music and rock, man, because you got bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Dream Theater...these bands are so advanced technically that it is just a perfect partner with our classical heritage.

JS. Thank you. How has the program evolved over the years? How has the size and scope changed?

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MW. It just continues growing. We have more and more mentors, but you know, it's funny, the challenges that we have are far less than when we started. When I started, the push back from the traditionalists was pretty intense. And even though I was on the board of ASTA and a well- respected musician, string teachers were so in the box, and unfortunately, still are most of them, that they don't know how to expand into the 21st century. So what we are doing right now is focusing a lot of energy on not just the students, because it's funny, the students sometimes are a little more advanced than their teachers. And when you have that happening, either the teacher pushes back on it and refuses to acknowledge it, or the good teachers say, "you know what, this is a moment for me to even learn and grow and to adapt to the needs of the 21st century." That's the key to Electrify Your Strings. Addressing the needs of the kids who are in school now. Not the kid fifty years ago, or one hundred years ago. We have to address, because this kid was different. They're attached to their phone, they can play in the chess club, they can build rockets, the have computer classes. Why do they need orchestra? They don't. So we need to really make orchestra as the perfect environment for them to explore and let their curiosity expand. Let their love of music, of expression...because when you are building a computer, you're not crying, you're not laughing, you're just analyzing. The music; you're laughing, you're expressing yourself. You're joyous, you're deep into the expression. There is no other environment outside the arts that gives you that type of experience, which of course leads us to a better understanding of the world and better equipped to be successful in day and age where creativity is the most important aspect of success. How is that?

JS. That was great. You mentioned the blowback from the orchestra teachers when you first started out, and that becoming less of a challenge. Is that generational? Do you think that the teaching workforce has changed enough and gotten younger because of the generations? Is that part of it, or is it that your program is more prevalent?

MW. It is a little bit of a help generationally. But again, it never ceases to amaze me. As a kid graduating from an undergraduate program at 21, right? They listen to all type of music on their phones. They listen to all types of music, but their string playing is only reflective of their training. They don't see their string playing or their string teaching as something that is flexible. So they are in that box even though they listen pleasurably. They go to rock concerts, they go to non-classical concerts all the time. They just don't see the violin, viola, cello ever exploring anything from the last hundred years, so, that's a big problem that we are trying to do, which is not only the pedagogical needs, Jeremy, but equally important, expanding the brain of the teacher. Like an English teacher. Let's say an English teacher or a science teacher only taught Shakespeare, that's all. They probably would not have a job, right? The music teacher has not as much jurisdiction, from a supervisor’s point of view. They're sort of left alone to really struggle with selling orchestra to kids who want to play soccer, who want to play football, who want to be in the computer club. So these teachers do not have the ability to sell what they are doing at a 21st century pace. I'm guessing in ten or twenty years, we'll be down fifty percent of our string programs, which would be a shame.

JS. How has the music you use in the Electrify Your Strings program evolved over the years?

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MW. Another great question. It's really evolving, Jeremy, into more original compositions, as opposed to just arrangements. And you know, by the way, I am doing Crazy Train with the youth orchestra today, right? Who knew that Ozzy Osbourne would be a learning moment? Who knew that? People would laugh at me. But if you watch me rehearse Crazy Train, immediately you see all of the interesting scale structures, rhythmic pulses and energy, it just catapults that laboratory that I was talking about earlier. It really legitimizes our training, because again, I speak a lot about how we learn to speak before we learn to read. We never learn to read when we are kids before we learn to speak. Speaking, obviously, is a language and so is music. The problem with music lessons is we start immediately with notation and not ear training, and without ear training, these kids cannot hear the intricacies and the beautiful depths of music with their instruments. They might be able to hear the passive listener, and listen to the bass part of a Taylor Swift song, but an orchestra musician like I was in high school, you know, I didn't even know what the cellos were playing and I didn't care, I just played my viola part and that's all I knew. And that to me addresses one of the many elephants in the room, which is, we don't want more string players, we want more musicians who play stringed instruments. And, I am going to talk to Tucson University next week, to the graduates of classical performance strings, right? And I emailed the teacher back and said, "Oh my goodness, are you sure you want me to tell them? I'm not sure they can handle the truth." And the teacher luckily emailed back, "absolutely, we love what you do." But I said, "listen, these people are not only not going to make a living, but they're not accessing 90% of their artistic abilities. They're dealing with 100% of their technical abilities, but their artistic, creative, innovative abilities are nonexistent, and because of that, they will not survive, because you're going to play a community orchestra for fifty dollars, you're going to play at the local library with a string quartet for a passive audience." It's just that world is shifting more toward a commitment towards personal expression. Like if a violin player says, "Hey Mark, I am going to play the Mozart Violin Concerto next week," I have no interest in that because I have a recording of Joshua Bell doing it. Are you going to do it better than Joshua Bell? Probably not. Oh, wait, you're going to play some of your music, and you're going to improvise stuff? I am there in a heartbeat. We are dealing with a 'Been there, done that,' experience, which is instant death to creativity when you regurgitate the same information year after year, because you know what, Jeremy, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Mozart did not adhere to that philosophy at all. Beethoven said, "I'm not going to right like Mozart, I'm going to create something new,” And we must follow our composers as much as following the great tradition of sitting in a traditional orchestra and playing this great music, which is still extremely important, and very valid to our learning experience. We are not removing our tradition, as you know. We are not replacing it, we are augmenting it, just like the band program and the choir programs all do. Marching band, jazz band, concert band, jazz choir concert choir. Multi-levels, and then you have the string program and there is nothing except a small ensemble struggling to play a Mozart symphony. I hope I am not rambling.

JS. No, it is all very good information. I'll let you speak. Have you added additional programs to EYS over the years?

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MW. Yes, because we started off, obviously being a string player, primarily strings. And of course, my wife Laura immediately, I was like, "we have got to get the choir in on this." And then we got the band program in on it with me doing choir, band and orchestra. And it's just overwhelming. Now we have expanded to not only great brass players who do Electrify Your Band, and singers that do Electrify Your Choir, but we also have a choreographer who we bring along sometimes because, Jeremy, another interesting topic that constantly amazes me is, how do you teach passion, how do you teach emotion in your playing? And I have found that by simple movement, moving back and forth, rocking back and forth and even orchestras do it a little bit. When you move, you open the doors to passion and feeling. When you play like a robot and you're just sawing away, there's no music in that. And that's not the fault of the player, by the way. The teacher's responsibility is to show the student the infinite possibilities of music making. If they do not show the infinite possibilities of bowed instruments, that it can do any style of music, then it is a narrow, narrow experience. And when you are competing against computers, iPhones, video games, sports, who have multidimensional experiences, guess what they chose? Well, here's what they don't chose. It's orchestra. So that's a huge dilemma that we face every day, and I'm guessing that probably 90% of the string programs in this country are based on that old tradition. As you know, less than fifteen percent, Jeremy, I don't know if, are you using any data in this, but less than fifteen percent of the schools in this country even have string programs. And, if you want hard core data, Bob Gillespie has all that stuff, and I could send stuff to you if you are interested. But boy, that's the wakeup call.

JS. Yeah. Sixteen percent of high school students participate in a music program.

MW. In general?

JS. Yeah, that's for band, choir, orchestra. Only 16 percent of high school students.

MW. Wow. That's really interesting, and very disappointing.

JS. Well, let's move on then. You talked briefly about the traditional classroom, so you know the traditional classroom seating is the half moon, the horse shoe shape. Is that the seating that you prefer for EYS, or do you prefer something else?

MW. The traditional half circle surrounding a conductor with their back to the audience is not what we do in EYS. But we don't want to replace that. We need to have the kids experience that massive quality of Europe. And Jeremy, as a side bar, you know the classical music is a gift from Europe. It is not an American tradition. And we are so grateful for Europe to share that with us, but back then, when they devised the orchestras hundreds of years ago, it was a very isolating experience and it was what it was, and it was wonderful and Mozart was writing great music, Beethoven. Now a days, the way I set up my orchestras, and you of course know, we face the most important person in the room, which is the audience. And we have direct contact with the hearts of the musicians to the hearts of the audience. And if that is broken in any way, the audience falls asleep and changes the channel to watch football instead of watching the

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orchestra. So right there, you're making it extremely challenging for traditional string orchestras who only do that. You know the demographics; you know the whole scenario. The problem twenty years ago was the audiences were in their seventies. Now the problem is they're in their nineties! What do we do? There is nobody new coming in as an audience. Forget about the string pedagogy, forget about school music programs, we have a big problem with just the concept of an orchestra which is not bringing in a demographic that we need. We need these young kids to fall in love with the viola. How do we do that? They don't listen to classical music, they don't listen to viola playing, they don't listen to a *unintelligible*. It's really up to the teacher to create an exciting environment. It boy, that's a big responsibility when a teacher is not trained to incorporate non-classical pedagogy into the program.

JS. You mentioned earlier about adding more programs. So you've added other artists. How many artists work with the Electrify Your Strings program now?

MW. Total we have, I think, Twelve. We have three choir, three to four brass and winds, and three to four string players, and one choreographer.

JS. Describe your EYS workshop. How many days and concerts for the typical workshop that you do.

MW. Hold on a second, put a pause on for me...

Stopped recording while Mark stepped away. Resumed as soon as he was available again.

JS. Describe your EYS Workshop. How many days, how many concerts?

MW. We have three to four different programs. We have week-long residencies, two week long residencies where we incorporate not just the rehearsals for the specific concerts, but incorporate what I really think is important, is going to the elementary schools one by one and doing assemblies and getting just general kids who have no interest in music to turn on. That creates the foundation. And then at the residencies, we hook into the rehearsals which are generally two days of full rehearsals and, let's see, the first day is usually five to six hours and then the second day is 3 hours of rehearsal plus the concert.

JS. Okay, what do you typically do first at that first rehearsal, and then second and so on?

MW. Say that again.

JS. What do you typically do first in that first rehearsal? Second? And then how does it progress?

MW. Okay, the first rehearsal, that first hour, we actually do not play the music for the concert. The first hour is the incredibly challenging task of trust, and having faith in me. A lot

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of these kids watch me on videos. They have never worked with me. They're either really scared of me, or they're really excited, they don't know quite what to do with this guys who arrives with this weird instrument. So that first hour we don't look at the music. We communicate with each other through our instruments through loops and drones. And I introduce to the teachers what they need to do for five minutes of every single day of their rehearsals with these drills. These drills incorporate, like I said, drum loops and drones. The two things that are the most challenging as a musician is rhythm and intonation. So we immediately go to that, and we immediately go to, just make a sound for me, let me hear you. Just two open d strings, anybody can do it from a beginner to an expert, and I get them to understand that the most important part of their instrument is their bow. So we talk about that in the first hour. By the power of a presence. The presence of power. Like a brass player just blows into their instrument and finds varying dynamics. A string, the art of strings...and you know how string players are sometime shy and sometimes very tenuous and very, just, very scared to make any kind of scared. Well, we have to break that immediately by, "let's everybody, don't worry, nobody's going to play a wrong note, play me two open d strings." And I have them listen. I say, "Listen to how strong this is. Now let's do a scale." So it's based on sort of traditional scale structures, but nobody is looking at music. All of the music stands are lowered so they all see me and I insist that everybody has eye contact with me. Do not look at the floor, do not look at the ceiling, don't look at the music stand. Look at me. And I start to train them to look at music as a communication skill, not as an orchestra, because as you know, music is a communication skill. Talk to me, communicate with me, but don't use words. Use your instrument. They've never thought about that. It had never even occurred to them that their instrument is like that. Their instrument, they only touch it when they come to orchestra, they only touch it when they have to, so they have totally disconnected from the potential of a musical instrument. Of what it can do to them personally because of the training of the teachers does not allow the teacher to express and to create a laboratory that they can explore. There is no exploring in orchestra. We are starting with this concerto or this symphony and class over, bye. There's no moment of, like, you know, "the fingerboard, look at these harmonics, look at how the fingerboard is structured. Let's not look at music today, let's not look at notation, let's just explore our instruments. Let's do it in C major. Okay, C major means that you have a C note and you have a piano..." You know, get into the basics of music making more than just orchestra, and I think that is really going to be the turning point. When we turn our rehearsals into this laboratory, and not the entire time, of course, because we must work on concert stuff. But at least five minutes. Give a kid a chance to fall in love, because if they don't fall in love with their instrument, guess what happens? They go play soccer and they drop orchestra. "Who need's orchestra? Who needs it, it's not doing me any good, it's not creating success in my life. I don't listen to this music." So it's a disservice to these students of the twenty first century to have anything but an environment that stimulate tremendous innovation and creativity.

JS. What do you do after you've done the warm-ups, you've made connections with these students, you've allowed them time to experiment? What happens then?

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MW. Then we start working on the music for the concert. But we do it a click and I slow the tempo down and I am able to talk while they are playing, so I am starting to train what I call multi-tasking listening, which is what they already do when a kid is on their laptop, they're also watching t.v., they're also playing video games, they're also on their phone at the same time. They're already multi-tasking. What we want them to do is see music as a multi-tasking where you're listening at multi-levels.

"Okay, violas, this is the melody here. It goes right after the violins. Violins play that melody. Viola's do you hear that melody? Okay, that's your cue. Use your ear, not the notation."

"Well, Mark it says eight bars rest."

"I don't care what it says, your ear is the final say. If it sounds weird to your ear, it is probably wrong."

So a lot of the emphasis, Jeremy, is listening. Which is astounding to me. It's the most obvious thing to say. "Mark, of course it is about listening." And yet, you look at the pedagogy and the way we are teaching strings, there is very little listening. You know, it is just amazing. So that is the second half.

JS. How many schools have you visited with the EYS program since its inception?

MW. Oh, god. Total?

JS. Yeah.

MW. Probably a thousand. We calculate it per year. We deal with, as far as young musicians, total, per year, it's about 50,000, and so just multiply that by 17, 18 years. I'm sorry. it's been about the last eight years we have been about 50,000 kids a year. Before then, we had one a year, and then two a year, and then five a year. You know, as we grew we started really expanding.

JS. So, your best estimate. How many students has the EYS program impacted?

MW. Total?

JS. Yeah.

MW. Over a million.

JS. What is your vision for the future of Electrify Your Strings?

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MW. Is to introduce a new way of thinking. To do what all our great composers do. Innovate. And that's really where we have to position ourselves. Creativity and innovation and implementing that so that every school has that mentality. So what we have to do Jeremy, is, going to schools is one thing, working with teachers and students, but going to the universities! I am shocked at these kids paying a considerable amount of money to be quote, unquote, trained to have a career in teaching music, and they are scratching the surface when they graduate as far as what their tools they need to be aware of and the tools that they need to be engaging with these kids. None of them have it.

JS. What do you hope remains at a school that has participated in an EYS, after you leave?

MW. A continued relationship. One of the things that I think is important when we work with teachers is that, with the right teacher, and I guess, I don't know how deep I want to get into that topic, but there are teachers that just do not see a long effect as much as other teachers do. The teachers who really see a long term effect where, as we innovate new technologies, new processes, new pedagogy. The teachers that we work with year after year after year benefit from us. As we grow, they grow. As we put together new workshops, they participate in it. So long term relationships are critical. We don't just come in and do a concert and say, "See ya! You know, we may never see you again, but we don't care." It's the opposite. We care so much about each kid who comes in, who expresses some interest in music. We want that 'some interest' in music to be a lifelong passion. A love of music and expressing themselves.

JS. You mentioned a continued relationship, but what have you noticed with schools you have returned to with EYS programs, in regards to their programs?

MW. Well it's funny. I am talking to one of the top ten best teachers in the country; you Jeremy. I am assuming you're going to share a little of your experience, but without question let's say you want to keep yourself out of it so to speak?

JS. Yeah, keep me out of it.

MW. I am so sorry I have to do that because we think you are one of the great, great ones. But if we need to focus on what your needs are right now. There are teachers that we have a long term relationship with and like a teacher in Kentucky, he started out with twenty kids in his program and now he has a couple hundred. That's what it's about. And every year we come back and do a concert and we do a fundraising, and we continuously get the press and the media to get to be a part of that. So yes, there are teachers that their music programs have completely changed.

JS. What surprised you about the Electrify Your Strings program?

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MW. How embraced it is by the parents. That to me, it's critical. Because when a parent can bond with their child, with their music... because you know, the cliché', "Little Jimmy, why aren't you practicing your violin?"

"Oh, I hate practicing."

"Well, go and do five minutes."

"Oh, I hate practicing."

And the parent is like, "Oh my god, does Jimmy have to practice again? I hate the way his violin sounds."

And believe it or not, after a year of that kind of environment at home, they drop. So, what we want to do is, we want to get the parents back to being committed, like my parents were. But you do it through all sounds of music exploration. A parent is very different from my parents. A different generation. The parents now are your age, you know, thirties and forties, and these are not my parents. This generation grew up not on classical music, but they grew up on rock and hip hop and r&b. So when they see their kids play a song they relate to; "Oh, play that song again. I love that song. Play this part again," and then that five-minute torturous practice turns into an hour of non-stop joy. That is really the future. Continuously embracing...I'm just looking at e-mails right now of program we did in New Jersey two days ago, where all the parents were just thanking me for...okay, it's up to you to print this. But thanking me for making the orchestra program less boring. You can print that if you want, because I'm not afraid of that. But most of these parents roll their eyes. "Oh god, I've got to go to this kid’s school concert. Ughh." But now, it's like, "Oh, I can't wait for my kid to come home and play some music." So that's what we are really looking to do.

JS. For the next question, I am sure you have a plethora of these, but try to keep it to one or two. Are there any EYS stories that you would like to share that you believe are relevant to this study?

MW. Well, actually, right as we were talking I got back to my hotel room after being on the treadmill and trying to talk and breathe at the same time. How was I doing by the way?

JS. You did wonderful, I couldn't tell.

MW. I just got an e-mail from a parent from the New Jersey thing, and one paragraph is;

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"My daughter had a life changing experience. A newly found confidence by playing out in front of the orchestra. I am so thankful you gave her a chance. She really needed a little inspiration in her playing. Now she is enjoying the Viola in a whole new light. It has changed her perception and EYS has changed her life."

That's intense. I can forward that to you or does that not matter?

JS. Let's not, just for confidentiality.

MW. Ok.

JS. That's a great story.

MW. "As a teacher I found your sessions with the students to be inspirational and full of enthusiasm. Those are traits I try to strive to my students. My teaching has already been enhanced by the ideas and concepts you shared with us at EYS." So if this is a mother/music teacher, "my ideas have already been enhanced by the ideas and concepts you shared with us..." That’s a big thing for me because I am not a pedagogist, I am not a teacher, I'm not...I don't have a doctorate in education. I barely graduated...I didn't graduate high school; I didn't graduate Julliard. I have absolutely no credibility in the traditional sense of education, yet what I have found to be impactful is the fact that I am outside of the box and constantly crashing it and destroying the box. We must destroy that philosophy of isolationism that orchestra does. And you know culturally now, we are constantly being isolated from other cultures, and that is a deadly disaster for a kid to interact with the world as if they are xenophobic or musically xenophobic. There's a phrase for you Jeremy. Musical xenophobia is the death of our music programs.

JS. Are there any particular students that you worked with early on in the EYS programs that have gone on into the music profession or gone on into the teaching profession?

MW. Well, the most joyous thing Jeremy, and I am glad that you really brought that question up, is the last two years I have been experiencing for the first time an orchestra teacher reaching out to me and saying, "Man, I played with you in middle school when I was fourteen years old and now I'm going to bring you to my orchestra program." And they have a picture of them in seventh grade with me, and then, they're an adult and they've said they were so inspired by EYS that they want to share the same thing with their students and they have found a new love and respect for teaching through innovation and through EYS.

JS. That's wonderful. Is there anything else that you would like to add that you think is relevant to this study?

MW. I also think that technology is critical. I don't know if, it's obviously up to you to see if that's applicable and relevant to your study, but technology is critical to not just the philosophy

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and the style of playing, but the fact that I designed and invented an instrument that stays very much on the traditional bowed-stringed instrument concept, we have never had technology advancement in the string world in history since the 1600's. I mean, think about that Jeremy. That astounds me as much as our pedagogical challenges, is the technology has not changed at all in 400 years. So I think you addressing the additional to not only the philosophy of mind, body and soul participation of music making, but also the innovation of the instrument. That I think is a very fascinating, and whether it's applicable for you or not, that, the logical integration. Ipad's, computers, play-a-long tracks, loops, drones, recording yourself. Those are incredibly important learning opportunities. When you become the teacher instead of always functioning when the teacher tells you to function. What we need to do is, the teacher's need to encourage independent and self-motivated learning. If a kid does not want to learn outside the classroom what the classroom was about, it will never be innovative for the kid, and they'll drop it. So that's what we're looking at.

JS. Wonderful. Well, that was my last question. I certainly do appreciate you taking time Mark.

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APPENDIX D

CONSENT FORMS

EYS Participant Consent Form

Purpose: You are invited to participate in a research study of Mark Wood’s Electrify Your Strings program. I hope to learn the current perception of Mark Wood’s Electrify Your Strings (EYS) program in regards to philosophy and pedagogy. Participant Selection: You were selected as a possible participant in this study because of your participation in the MWROC Music Festival and/or you were recommended by a participant of the MWROC Music Festival. Approximately 20 participants age 18 or older will be invited to join the study from the following pools; EYS student participant, EYS educator participant, parent of an EYS participant, or Administrator of a participating EYS school. Explanation of Procedures: If you decide to participate, you will be contacted via e-mail to schedule an interview in person, if feasible, or via Skype. The interview will include between 14 and 22 questions similar to this: Other than listening, what is your experience with popular music? The interview will take 20-45 minutes approximately and will be audio recorded and later transcribed. Discomfort/Risks: There are no anticipated physical, emotional or psychological risks with this study. You will be asked your opinion on a music program that is different from current accepted practices, which creates a potential social risk for participating in this study. If at any time you fill uncomfortable with a question you are welcome to skip it. Benefits: This study has the potential to introduce music educators with a music education program they may not be familiar with. Confidentiality: Every effort will be made to keep your study-related information confidential. However, in order to make sure the study is done properly and safely there may be circumstances where this information must be released. By verbally consenting, you are giving the research team permission to share information about you with the following groups:

 Office for Human Research Protections or other federal, state, or international regulatory agencies;  The Wichita State University Institutional Review Board;

The researchers may publish the results of the study. If they do, they will only discuss group results. Your name will not be used in any publication or presentation about the study. The audio/video recordings from your interview will be kept on the researcher’s laptop as well as a back-up drive for 5 years after the study’s completion.

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Refusal/Withdrawal: Participation in this study is entirely voluntary. Your decision whether or not to participate will not affect your future relations with Wichita State University. If you agree to participate in this study, you are free to withdraw from the study at any time without penalty. Contact: If you have any questions about this research, you can contact: Student Researcher Jeremy Samuel, telephone 316-295-8138, email [email protected]. Faculty Advisor Steve Oare, telephone 316-978-3464, email [email protected]. If you have questions pertaining to your rights as a research subject, or about research-related injury, you can contact the Office of Research and Technology Transfer at Wichita State University, 1845 Fairmount Street, Wichita, KS 67260-0007, telephone (316) 978-3285. You are under no obligation to participate in this study. Your consent indicates that:  You have read (or someone has read to you) the information provided above,  You are aware that this is a research study,  You have had the opportunity to ask questions and have had them answered to your satisfaction, and  You have voluntarily decided to participate.

You may keep this information sheet. EYS Creator Consent Form Purpose: You are invited to participate in a research study of Mark Wood’s Electrify Your Strings program. I hope to learn the current perception of Mark Wood’s Electrify Your Strings (EYS) program in regards to philosophy and pedagogy. Participant Selection: You were selected as a possible participant in this study because of your involvement in the creation and current administration of the EYS program. Explanation of Procedures: If you decide to participate, you will be contacted via e-mail to schedule an interview in person, if feasible, or via Skype. The interview will include between 14 and 22 questions similar to this: What was the purpose, as you saw it, of EYS in the beginning? The interview will take 20-45 minutes approximately and will be audio recorded and later transcribed. Discomfort/Risks: There are no anticipated physical, emotional or psychological risks with this study. You will be asked your opinion on a music program that is different from current accepted practices, which creates a potential social risk for participating in this study. If at any time you fill uncomfortable with a question you are welcome to skip it. Benefits: This study has the potential to introduce music educators with a music education program they may not be familiar with.

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Confidentiality: Every effort will be made to keep your study-related information confidential. However, in order to make sure the study is done properly and safely there may be circumstances where this information must be released. By verbally consenting, you are giving the research team permission to share information about you with the following groups:

 Office for Human Research Protections or other federal, state, or international regulatory agencies;  The Wichita State University Institutional Review Board;

The researchers may publish the results of the study. As one of the creators and creative visionaries of the EYS program, it will be necessary to use your name in discussion during the course of this study, as well as citing quotes from your interview. The audio/video recordings from your interview will be kept on the researcher’s laptop as well as a back-up drive for 5 years after the study’s completion. Refusal/Withdrawal: Participation in this study is entirely voluntary. Your decision whether or not to participate will not affect your future relations with Wichita State University. If you agree to participate in this study, you are free to withdraw from the study at any time without penalty. Contact: If you have any questions about this research, you can contact: Student Researcher Jeremy Samuel, telephone 316-295-8138, email [email protected]. Faculty Advisor Steve Oare, telephone 316-978-3464, email [email protected]. If you have questions pertaining to your rights as a research subject, or about research-related injury, you can contact the Office of Research and Technology Transfer at Wichita State University, 1845 Fairmount Street, Wichita, KS 67260-0007, telephone (316) 978-3285. You are under no obligation to participate in this study. Your consent indicates that:  You have read (or someone has read to you) the information provided above,  You are aware that this is a research study,  You have had the opportunity to ask questions and have had them answered to your satisfaction, and  You have voluntarily decided to participate.

You may keep this information sheet

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